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REPORT 



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FREEDMEN 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE 



AND STATE OF ARKANSAS 




MEMPHIS, TENN.: 

PUBLISHED BY PKBHISSIOIT, 
1865. 






13 




REPORT. 



OFFICE GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

DEPAKTilENT OF THE TENNESSEE AND STATE OF ARKANSAS, 

jVIemphis, Tenn., December 31st, 1864. 

Brig. Gen. L. THOMAS, 

Adjutant General, U. S. A. 

General, — This supervision has, during the year, extended 
over a territory from Cairo, Southward, in the Mississippi Valley, 
populated, according to the census of ] 860, by 770,000 blacks ; 
including the cities of Memphis, Vicksburg, Natchez, and Little 
Rock, and the military posts of Columbus, Island 10, Corinth, 
Helena, Du Tail's Bluff, Pine Bluff, Fort Smith, Goodrich Land, 
ing, Milliken's Bend, and Davis Bend. 

previous condition of the feeedmen. 

No phase of the former condition of this people, or of their 
present transition, has been excluded from our view. Previous 
to the time covered by this report, the officers of this supervision 
had more than a year's experience among the above population, 
observing and directing similar causes and results. These were 
never fully reported. Though that experience has a direct bear- 
ing upon our present plans, it can be admitted here only as 
shaping the views, policy and facts herein epitomized. 

The rebellion, at the outset, began to disturb this population, 
by an increase from Missouri, and a decrease southward ; by the 
masters' diminishing the supply of clothing, — increasing or de- 
creasing in severity as affected by the shock of arms, — and by 
the seizure of the blacks, for military purposes, by the insurgents. 
The frequent marching and countermarching of loyal and dis- 
loyal armies, consuming or destroying the material comforts of 
life, such as food, shelter, and the implements of industry ; the 
actual shock of arms, or the terror of their motion, left hardly 
an individual, white or black, unaffected. It was soon evident 
that the strength of these regions consisted in three distinct 



4 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

elements : masters, slaves and poor whites. Many of the last 
were forced into the rebel armies, furnished with horses and 
better food and clothing, and their families were supported ; and, 
therefore, they failed to see, so soon as some of the negroes and 
the Southern unionists, that the interests of these elements were 
not only diverse, but hostile ; and that the war was the effort of 
the master to render irrevocably supreme the power of his own 
caste. Some whites looked Northward ; but the blacks illustra- 
ted what the history of the world has rarely seen, — a slave popu- 
lation, sprung from antecedent barbarism, rising up and leaving 
its bondage of centuries, and its ardent local tradition-s and asso- 
ciations, sundering the boasted influences and attractions of the 
master ; in rags or silks ; feet shod or bleeding ; individually or in 
families ; and pressing towards the armies characterized as " Van- 
dal hordes." Their comings were like the arrivals of cities. Often 
they met prejudices against their color, more bitter than that 
they had left behind. There was no Moses to lead, nor plan in 
their exodus. The decision of their instinct or unlettered reason 
brought them to us. They felt that their interests were identical 
with the objects of our armies. This identity of interest, slowly 
but surely, came to be perceived by our officers and soldiers, and 
by the loyal public. They gave information for the guidance of 
campaigns ; laborers for the various stafl" departments ; took upon 
themselves all the serving of the army for officers, hospitals, &c. ; 
and soon were accepted as capable of the soldier's discipline and 
endurance in all arms of the service, and worthy of a soldier's 
pay and honor. Out of those who came within our lines, proba- 
bly not less than 80,000 have either died in the United States 
service, or are still in it as laborers or soldiers. 

But there was a background to this sublime march of events. 
Ignorance ; perverted ideas — taking liberty tor idleness — em- 
bracing all the fostered vices and crimes of the old system, 
cringing deceit, theft, absence of chastity, and of the safeguards 
and promptings of the family relation ; tatters, nakedness, torn 
limbs ; women in travail ; helpless childhood ; age and decrepi- 
tude ; multiform sickness and unwept death. The sublime dash- 
ings and roar of the surge could not conceal the wreck or drown 
the piercing cry of distress. The army shared its own food, 
shelter and clothing ; charity, gathering in its small rills from 
the loyal mountains and valleys, came forward in a full, gushing 
stream, bearing laborers and material. 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 6 

GEXEKAL GEAXT AND THE AKMY. 

The laws of Congress had fi-eed some ; the proclamation, all. 
The law of the army, here the only expression of the law of the 
land, be^an to declare itself in behalf of the blacks. All the 
wise and humane devisings and issues of General Grant, antedate 
the past year, though pervading its events, as they must those 
of the future. 

It is not unworthy of note here, that the army, though em- 
bracing in itself all the instrumentalities for the destruction of 
its foe, at whatever cost of comfort, treasure and life ; though 
having in it the usual admixture of good and bad ; though look- 
ed upon by many benevolent people, as only another master for 
the black ; has done all that has been done to free, feed, shelter, 
protect and give him medical attendance ; and has formed the 
only safe channel for the benevolence, that has come to his aid ; 
nay, has added to protection, transportation, rations and quarters. 
More than all this, it ha^ sought out of its forms for administer- . 
ing justice, an adaptation to the peculiar condition of these freed 
people. 

This has been the work in the hands ot my officers and my- 
self To some extent, it ma}' have affected all of the above 
770,000, during the year ; but direct authority has reached them 
only when they or their employers have come within our lines ; 
and this report must be, necessarily, subject to the usual military 
limitations. I cannot stop even to mention the circumstances of 
their removal from Corinth and Island 10. My object is not so 
much to detail the history, as to concentrate those events, facts 
and opinions, which may serve to throw light upon the future. 

DUTY UNDER ORDERS NO. 94. 

Special orders, No. 94, (of the Secretary of War, issued by 
Adjutant General Thomas, at Goodrich Landing, La., Nov. 5th, 
1863,) provides that the General Superintendent ot Freedmen 
shall assign, 

" The Field and Staif of the Regiments raised by him, for the super- 
vision and protection of these people^and tlieir industry, to duty as Gen- 
eral Assistants, and the companies and their comman(lers to local duty. 
All Assistant Superintendents will be subject to his order. 

" This supervision will embrace the general guardianship of all in- 
terests of the freed people ; their registration ; all necessar}^ permits and 
contracts for labor with private parties, lessees, officers, citizens, or others ; 
the provision of industry for them iu camp, or on plantations ; determine 
the location of camps, the occupation of plantations to be worked by the 



6 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

infirm, vagrant, or idle, and all others necessarily or temporarily in charge 
of the Government. 

" No freed people will be recruited or ordered out of camp, except- 
ing through the oificer in charge. 

" Superintendents will encourage the people to answer calls to indus- 
try, by voluntary agreement to labor, and enforce the inviolability of the 
agreement. 

• " To prevent the frequent infringement of the interests of these 
people, and secure proper uniformity to the action of the Government, 
there will be no change of the regulations, forms of contracts, permits, 
&c., except through the General Superintendent." 

THE GUARD EEGIMENTS. 

The organization of these regiments, approved by General 
Grant, and ordered by the Secretary of War, (by Adjutant Gen- 
eral Thomas,) for this special purpose, has not only proved emi- 
nently serviceable, but the only instrumentality for the execution 
of the above order. 

TERRITORIAL DIYISIONS. 

To facilitate the work, the territory was divided into the 
Districts of West Tennessee, office at Memphis, Capt. T. A. Wal- 
ker, Supt. ; Arkansas, office at Little Rock, Maj W. G. Sargent, 
Supt, ; with local offices at Helena, Capt. A. L. Thayer ; Pine 
Bluff, Capt. Mallory ; Du Vall's Bluff, Lt. W. Davis ; and Fort 
Smith ; District of Vicksburg, office at Vicksburg, Col. Samuel 
Thomas, Supt. and Provost Marshal, assisted by Lieut. Col. A. 
L. Mitchell, at Natchez; Capt. Norton, at Davis Bend; Lieut. 
Thirds, at Vidalia ; Lieut. Mathews, at Goodrich Landing ; and 
Capt. Weber, at Vicksburg. 

WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THEM? 

The change of the negro's position at once excited to activ- 
ity all the old prejudices regarding him, and renewed, in various 
forms, the old conflicts over the question. What shall be done 
with him? Shall he still be treated as, in fact, a slave to the in- 
dividual, or be required to work for the Government, without 
supplies, pay, or the consideration that was accorded to him when 
he was of value as a marketable commodity ? Or shall he be 
free f Shall these men and women, long abused, whose industry 
was the source of all the regal wealth which adorned the South- 
ern palaces ; who have come over from the enemy to our help, 
be held deserving of our consideration ? Shall they, who have 
been robbed of manhood, — of the very essentials of improve- 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 7 

ment in personal character and condition, receive from us due 
sympathy ? Shall they, who, whatever their capacity, yet need 
our temporary care, until they become conscious of their ability 
to use the instrumentalities around them for their good, be 
refused our help ? Shall they, who, as laborers, could give effi- 
ciency to the staff departments of the army ; or, as soldiers, form 
regimental organizations, and thus promote military ends, be 
thoughtlessly pushed aside ? Shall they, who are familiar with 
the by-paths and cotton piles ; and could become the carriers of 
supplies through our lines to the enemy ; or, as the tillers of this 
rich soil, rendered a hundred fold more productive by the in 
creased value of the cotton fibre ; and thus the negro, himself, a 
hundred fold more an object of the consideration of speculative 
capital ; be disregarded by Government ? 

PREJUDICES. 

In the midst of all the conflicts of interests, which arose out 
of this state of affairs, and of the temptations incidental to the 
occasion ; and of the scramble that ensued, among various par- 
ties, for emolument; and of fellow-officers, who, not only did not 
respect, but found a peculiar pleasure in obstructing, the settled 
policy of the Government — and sneering at the "nigger men" — 
my assistants were exposed to a test more severe to moral 
courage than the battle-field, and more trying to judicial and 
business capacity, than any amount of perplexity in more peace- 
ful and common scenes. It is not surprising that some officers 
failed, or that it was difficult to secure and retain those most 
faithful. Those who have stood the test, could have no better 
proof of official merit. 

DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR. 

In addition to this territorial subdivision of labor among my 
assistants, the importance of three classes of interests, namely : 
The control of property ; the supply of medicines and medical 
attendance ; and the arrangement of educational affairs, render- 
ed it necessary that I should have one officer, whom I could hold 
responsible for each of these classes of labor. In respeot to ed- 
ucation, during nine months, this plan was defeated by circum- 
stances beyond my control. Lieut. B. K. Johnston was assign- 
ed to duty as A. A. Q. M., and A. C. S., of Freedmen, and has 
done much for the economicol management of property ; render- 



8 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

ing satisfactory reports to Washington, as usually required of 
officers of those Departments. To meet the medical necessities, 
Dr. D. O. McCord, Surgeon, 63rd U. S. C. L, was designated 
Surgeon-in-chief of Freedmen. His powers, by this assignment, 
proved inadequate. The sanitary condition of the people was 
appalling. Neither medicines nor sui-geons were at hand. Every 
one acknowledged the importance of doing something. The 
distress and confusion were met by Orders 114, of the Secretary 
of War, issued by Adjt. Gen. Tliomas, making Surgeon McCoid, 
Medical Director, with power to employ surgeons and control 
medicines. 

• 

NO MONEY DRAWN FROM GOVERNMENT. 

All officers handling supplies, received from the Govern- 
ment, adjusted their methods of business, forms of reports, 
vouchers, &c., to army regulations. Not a cent of money has 
ever been drawn from Government, for the Freedmen, on any 
account. A careful use of the tax, temporarily required by 
orders 63, and of funds accruing from the profits of labor of the 
department, under the care of the different superintendents, has 
met all the incidental expenses of these wide spread operations ; 
paid five thousand dollars for hospitals ; the salaries of all hos- 
pital stewards and medical assistants as per Orders 94, and enabled 
us to supply to the people, aside from the abandoned property, 
implements of industry, &c., secured to their benefit, clothing, 
household utensils, and other articles, essential to their comfort, 
which they could not have secured, otherwise, at less than three 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The management of these 
funds and supplies, has sprung out of the exigencies of the 
people's condition ; adapted, as far as necessary, to army methods ; 
requiring a rigid system of accounts, monthly reports covered 
by certificates and vouchers, followed up by careful inspections, 
not only from this office, but the different commanding Generals. 

GENERAL ASSISTANTS. 

H. B, Spelman, Esq., widely known for his scrupulous hon. 
esty and business experience, President of one of the Freedmen 
Aid Societies, has been employed to market the crop now closing 
out. Chaplain A. S. Fisk, ordered to report to me by General 
Grant ; Chaplain Joseph Warren, D. D., by General McPherson j 
and Chaplain James A. Ilawley, in accordance with Orders 94, 



DEPARTMENT OF TNE TENNESSEE. 9 

have efficiently aided in charge of the people, making inspections, 
checking vices, and controling those instrumentalities which more 
closely affect the moral and social sentiments of the Freedmen. 

PARTIES GITIXG INFORMATION. 

The parties who are best able to furnish the ficts nnder this 
supervision, upon which depend questions of future management, 
are, 1st. The Superintendents and Provost Marshals oi Freed- 
men ; 2nd. The Freedmen themselves ; 3rd. Their employers ; 
4th. Their teachers ; 5th. Commanding officers. This testimony 
has been carefully sought. I shall endeavor to group it as ex- 
actly and briefly as possible for the fair judgment of others. 

DIFFICULTIES AND EFFORTS. 

The uncertainty attending all classes of interests and business 
under my care has been most embarrassing ; interests that must 
be cared for; business that must be done ; but to do which no 
one would indicate exactly how. I need not state how many 
efforts have been adverse to my purposes, or how far the plans I 
have been required to execute have differed from those I should 
have counseled. It is due, however, that I should state, that I 
have been entirely deceived in my own purposes, if I have not 
endeavored to conduct these affairs, so new, so complicated and •'^' 
perplexing, so far reaching in their consequences, as a great ex- 
periment : carefully testing each principle, and abiding by the 
result, with a single aim to discharge my duty to my country, 
by giving effect to the relations of the Government to these 
people ; in the temporary sup])ort of the absolutely dependent ; 
in the aid of those able in some measure to help themselves, and 
in the execution of justice towards all. Xor should I fail to add, 
that no one can feel the inadequate results of my efforts as keenly 
as I do myself. 

ASSISTANT GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT. 

The importance of giving my personal attention, at remote 
points, to difficulties, to plans and inspections, necessitated the 
appointment of Col. Samuel Thomas, as Assistant General Su- 
perintendent, Avith full authority to act in my absence. This not 
only extended his duties, but rendered them more complicated. 
He has limited himself in his report, however, to the operations 
in his own district. His territory, as he remarks : 



10 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

EARLY CONDITION OF YICKSBURG DISTRICT. 

"In nearly every part was a camping ground for a large army dur- 
ing the Vicksburg campaign, breaking up the plantations, scattering the 
negroes, and compelling them to seek protection and aid, in large numbers ; 
and since that time the District has been the scene of campaigns innumer- 
able, made by small forces on both sides, keeping the country in a disturb- 
ed and excited state. Whatever has been done, has been accomplished in 
the face of a guerrilla warfare, that cannot be surpassed for vindictiveness 
and cruelty. Many of the guerrillas were natives, well acquainted with 
the country, and feeling that they were driving from their own homes the 
negroes and Yankees, have exhibited a ferocity which only Camanches 
can equal." 

NATCHEZ MAJOR YOUNG. 

" Our 'occupation of Natchez and the disappearance of many rich 
planters, induced the negroes there, also, to gather around our lines in 
thousands. Nothing was done for their permanent good, until Major 
Geo. W. Young was appointed my assistant at that post, in November, 
1863. Unable to obtain assistants, nobly discharging the duties of his 
office himself, he introduced cleanliness, health and comfort, into their 
camp, by rebuilding their houses and adding chimneys, floors and win- 
dows. In a few months he prompted to industry all but 600 out of the 
5,000 reported dependent upon the Government. He fought a regular 
campaign with the old slave ideas and notions of the wealthy Southern- 
ers of the city, defending the interests of the black man, even against 
some of his superior officers." 

DISTRESS AT YOUNG'S POINT. 

" Our efforts to do anything for these people, as they herded to- 
gether in masses, when founded on any expectation that they would help 
themselves, often failed ; they had become so completely broken down in 
spirit, through suffering, that it was almost impossible to arouse them. 
The camp at Young's Point, during the summer of 1863, had been a vast 
charnel house — thousands of the people dying, without well ones enough 
to inter the dead." 

Others of these massive gatherings of the people were in 
little better condition. Col. Thomas observes : 

"I hope I may never be called on again to witness the horrible 
scenes I saw in those first days of the history of the Freedmen in the 
Mississippi Valley. Assistants were hard to get, especially the kind that 
would do any good in our camps. A detailed soldier in each camp of a 
thousand people was the best that could be done. His duties were so 
onerous that he ended by doing nothing." 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 11 

LABOE — ITS EFFECT. 

" Our first efforts were to get the people at sorae kind of labor. 
Axes and teams were sent to the camps ; wood cutting and hauling, and 
the erection of cabins commenced; disease left them; spirit returned; 
there was improvement on all hands. Plans were devised tc^ enforce hon- 
est payment for their industry in all directions. 

" A great deal has been said against camping large bodies of them 
together. We have endeavored to avoid this by all reasonable means ; 
but humanity said, place them were they will be protected from guerrillas, 
even if there be greater danger from disease. Islands were selected. 
General Grant once visited Paw Paw Island, in the midst of his untold 
efforts, for the purpose of promoting the comfort and enterprise of the 
people. Little was accomplished, however, till after the fall of Yicksburg. 
At Goodrich Landing we urged the adoption of the same simple means of 
industry ; but that place not being under the charge of this supervision, 
no one was able to keep the tottering plan on its legs. Still considerable 
was done ; though there were few visible results, when the people were 
thrown upon my hands. Several teachers and other benevolent persons 
were in the field aiding us in fighting the difliculties step by step ; making 
some perceptible advancement, but so slow that the boldest and most stout 
hearted were often discouraged at the small results. 

" In reviewing the condition of the people at that time, I am not 
surprised at the marvelous stories told by visitors, who caught an occa- 
sional glimpse of the misery and wretchedness in these camps. 

" All felt that we were tiying an experiment ; but none of us doubt- 
ed final success. No one felt that slavery was a divine institution ; but 
the great question at this time was, whether we had pursued a wise 
course ? All did not, at first, see that the devastating influence of a cam- 
paign through the country had reduced to starvation and beggary, whites 
as well as blacks, and that their wretched condition was but the naturaj 
result of the tremendous transition affecting all colors and classes. The 
only way for the negro to get out of the darkness that shrouded his pros- 
pects, was by patient toil, and the slow process that has discouraged so 
many. The poor slave, in his blindness, felt it was a bad exchange to 
leave the well filled smokehouses and comfortable cabins of his master's 
plantation, and get instead, the crowded tents and hard fare of our camps. 
Some white men, who think liberty and manliness not worth so much as 
a full stomach, felt as the slaves did. 

" New men were placed in charge of the camps, to take the places of 
unworthv and inefficiencv ones, and everv effort was made to inaugurate 
a new system, and meet the demands of the people by an activity on our 
part that would encourage them to press forward." 

ARKAXSAS. 

Major Sargent reached his field of labor in January, 1864. 

" There had been various attempts at local supervision of the people 
in Arkansas. At Helena, before the place came under this supervision, 



12 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

the experience of the people had been much like that at Young's Pomt ; 
the mortality, as is well known, was great ; the destitution was immense ; 
the freedmen in a loose, disorganized condition ; no well regulated systen? 
of compensated labor; no well defined authoritative supervision. The 
freedmen camps had been broken up and destroyed by the advance and 
retreat of the rebel army. There were various changes of Superinten- 
dents, one of whom, I understand, never visited the camps, while acting 
in that capacity." 

Similar statements could be greatly multiplied. Dr. 
McCord, Medical Director, ordered a thorough inspection, by 
Surgeon Wright, of the whole field. Dr. Wright's statements 
fully correspond with the above. 

CLOTHING PKOVIDED. 

The necessities for clothing were met, as far as possible, by 
the use of deceased soldiers' clothing, turned over by hospitals in 
obedience to orders from the Secretary of War, by Adjutant 
Gen. Thomas ; by using the funds on hand to bring forward sup- 
plies from the North ; and by donations received from various 
benevolent sources. 

Chaplain A. S. Fisk, by direction of Gen. Grant, was sent 
to represent, to the loyal public, the necessities of the winter. 
As the result of his efforts, goods to the amount of more than 
$100,000 were reported forwarded through the channels of 
various benevolent societies. 

ARRANGEMENTS FOR LABOR. 

In reference to former plantation hands, all looked for a 
supply of labor on the soil at the opening of the season. I pro- 
posed first, that commanders should indicate the limits within 
which security could be assured. Second, that within these 
limits all negroes able to conduct independent enterprises, as 
lessees, should take out leases for small farms from the Treasury 
Department. Third, that those capable of such enterprises, but 
without means to prosecute them, should receive the needed as- 
sistance from benevolent individuals or societies ; or subsistence 
and other incidental aid from the Government — the amount to 
be deducted from the first income of the crop. Fourth, that 
sufiicient land, houses, &c., should be reserved for shelter and 
industry of all those necessarily dependent. I had invited bene- 
volent societies to come forward and furnish funds, agents, &c., 
and provide for as many as possible. I proposed that those re- 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 13 

mainiDg should be similarly provided for by Government. Fifth, 
that loyal owners, if any, still in possession of their lands, or 
those parties leasing of the Treasury abandoned lands within 
these limits of security, should hire the Freedmen ; a minimum 
rate being fixed, below which none should go, to guard against 
fraud upon the more ignorant, and above which prices might 
rise ad libitum^ for all services of special value, as prompted by 
competition, each engagement to be a bona fide voluntary agree- 
ment between the parties, and witnessed by the proper Superin- 
tendent, the inviolability ol w^hich should be strictly enforced by 
the Government. Several benevolent societies indicated a read- 
iness to co-operate. 

BENEVOLENT ACTION. 

Illustrative of a few things that were, and more that might 
have been done at this time, is a remark of Colonel Thomas, fol- 
lowing his description of the distress at Young's Point. 

" Elkanah Beard, agent of the Indiana yearly meeting of Friends, 
came to me, as my good genius, about this time, and, with his good wife, 
nobly volunteered to go to Young's Point, and commence their labors. I 
remember well the cold, windy Sabbath morning when they put up a tent, 
which I had given them, on the bank of the river, in front of the camp, 
and cheerfully began their work, without any of the comforts, and with 
but few of the necessaries of life." 

While the winter was hurrying by, in addition to supplying 
support and industry to those crowded together in camps, my 
officers were endeavoring to secure justice among and towards 
all Freedmen resident in cities ; removing all who had no visible 
means of support, — alike as the best means of providing for 
their individual good, and securing the towns against the preva- 
lence of small pox and other diseases. They were to introduce 
every practicable form of industry, and to secure all possible 
governmental and benevolent aid, amid difiiculties which no 
others can know. For encouragement they had to look to their 
own convictions of duty, and the approbations of the future. 

PEOPOSED SCHEMES, SPECULATION. 

Various more or less impracticable schemes were proposed. 
The supreme authorities had not indicated the details of any plan, 
notwithstanding a large amount of capital came forward to em- 
ploy labor. Finally, a scheme was proposed, with far ofif excel- 



14 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

lent ends, possessing some features already tried and found prac- 
ticable; but on a civil basis, and combining the control of the 
property leased, and of the people to be employed, so in the same 
hands as to render impossible the making of it, on the whole, 
either practicable for the employer, devoid as it was of protec- 
tion ; or to the employee, destitute as it was of any instrumen- 
tality for the execution of justice in his behalf, beyond the ap- 
peal to the money motive. The spirit of speculation ran high. 
Parties bid a considerable per cent, for the opportunity of choos- 
ing plantations. The whole valley was to be lined with cotton 
fields, cultivated with free, compensated industry. General 
Sherman clearly indicated that only certain cities and posts were 
to be garrisoned ; and that all other interests must be subordina- 
ted to military operations, without revealing the plans of the stu- 
pendous campaigns already devised by General Grant. Many 
of the more thoughtful capitalists left the field. General confu- 
sion was produced, without means to inaugurate system, or re- 
move conflict. 

PLAN RENDERING FREEDMEN'S DEPARTMENT HELPLESS. 

This scheme came in such a manner, and was inaugurated by 
such measures, as to leave this supervision practically powerless 
for good toward the great mass of the freed people, who were 
not collected in cities. It assumed such authority, that the 
Freedmen Department could do nothing but surrender all juris- 
diction. 

CHANGE THROUGH ORDERS NO. 9. 

The confusion continued until March, 1864, when Orders 
No. 9, of the Secretary of War, were issued by Adjutant Gen- 
eral Thomas. Col. Thomas observes : 

" The plan of leasing- abandoned plantations seems to have been 
made the settled policy of the Government. The trouble was, as to the 
manner in which this should be done. Several plans were proposed. 
Gen. Thomas issued Orders 9, which settled the matter as far as the Freed- 
men were concerned, leaving the leasing of tlie plantations to the Treas- 
ury Department. Our office made arrangements for granting permits to 
planters for Freedmen in our camps, and for assisting m every way the 
transfer of all idle persons from camps to plantations. 

" Plantations were leased by hundreds, in every conceivable place, 
and as far out in the rebel lines as parties leasing could hear the name of 
a plantation, and the few statistics necessary to procure such lease. Men 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 15 

from the North, by hundreds, flocked here eager to get a chance at the 
golden prospect, thoroughly convinced that to get a lease and a permit for 
hands was all that was to be done in order to secure a fortune. The Gov- 
ernment would do the rest. 

" In a short time all the plantations in safe and accessible localities 
were leased ; and then commenced a series of operations, which has done 
more than anything else to bring the plantation business into discredit. 
Men would lease plantations that they had never seen, in hope that by 
some good stroke of fortune our armies would occupy the section of coun- 
try in which they lay, so that they could enter upon the possession of the 
land. 

DISAPPOINTMENT THEOUGH MILITARY CHANGES. 

" At this time there were a good many outposts around Vicksburg, 
and a great army here, and quite an extent of country protected. The 
planters, in their zeal, thought they had been promised that the army 
should remain here for their protection ; bat a little reflection, on their 
part, would have shown them the absurdity of such a notion. Vicksburg 
and Natchez we would certainly hold with garrisons ; all else was uncer- 
tainty and wild conjecture. A short time after these planters had secured 
their leases they found this to be the case ; as the outposts were abandoned, 
and the army of this District sent to swell the great host that was under 
the leadership of Sherman, then preparing for the Atlanta campaign. 
Naturally the military lines were contracted to suit the diminished force. 

" In rushed each greedy planter, howling about his rights, the bad 
faith of the Government, and the rank injustice of the Superintendents of 
Freedmen, in not compelling the negroes to stay out on plantations, where 
the lessee himself would not risk his own life a night. 

" Plantations in safe localities have had no trouble in getting hands 
and those who have treated their laborers right have had no difficulty in 
getting them to work." 

PROVOST MARSHALS APPOINTED. 

For the purpose of reconciling the diverse interests, and 
making the most of the season, various important points were 
compromised, A most essential feature was the introduction of 
a system of executing justice on the plantations by Provost Mar- 
shals of Freedmen. The following order made my General 
Assistant Provost Marshal for the Vicksburg District, including 
Natchez, with power to designate assistants : 

HEADQUARTERS 17th ARMY CORPS, 

Department of the Tennessee, 

Vicksburg, Mississippi, March 24, 1864. 

SPECIAL ORDERS NO. 80: 

In accordance with instructions from the Secretar}'- of War, L. 
Thomas, Adjutant General, Col. Samuel Thomas, Assistant General Su- 



16 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

perintendent of Freedmen, Department of the Tennessee, is hereby 
appointed Provost Marshal of Freedmen on Plantations for the District of 
North Mississippi. 

All necessary Assistant-Provost-Marshals for said District will be 
designated by Col. Thomas. 

By order of IVEaj. Gen. James B. McPherson. 

WILLIAM T. CLARK, 

A. A. General. 

NECESSITY OF PROVOST MARSHALS. 

The necessity for officers discharging these duties is manifest 
on every hand, and will appear fully acknowledged alike in the 
testimony of Planters and Freedmen, of employers and em- 
ployees. The number has been entirely inadequate lor the 
duties imposed upon them. Their duties were new and arduous. 
Sufficient books and forms of record, reports, etc., had not been 
provided. I quote frum Col. Thomas one of the many striking 
illustrations of the importance of their labors: 

" Unprincipled men took advantage of the negroes' ignorance to im- 
pose upon their confidence, and often robbed them of all they had. Only 
a few days since a negro was telling me, that eighteen months ago he had 
ten bales of cotton of his own on his master's plantation ; that he was Maj. 
Gen. Grant's servant ; and, blacking the General's boots one day, told him 
the story of his wrongs and sufferings, ending with the mention of this 
cotton. The General sat down and wrote him an order for it, and ordered 
that all officers should assist him in getting it to market. After many 
ordeals in getting it hauled and shipped, and refusing many offers to buy 
it of him, he was doomed to disappointment ; in his own language, ' Ginst 
he got to Memphis the cotton was done gone, and he never knew who got 
it, or how it went.' The white man was too sharp for the negro, and had 
stolen what could not be got in any other way. This negro has carried 
on a plantation for himself this year, bought his own supplies, shipped his 
cotton, sold it, put the money in his pocket, and defies any man to play 
the same trick on him again. The example illustrates the whole subject." 

SUPPORT OF PAUPERS. 

Orders 9 did not specify how those who remained dependent 
upon the Government were to be provided for ; but we hoped 
the Plantation Agents would meet their necessities, and allow 
the Superintendents to restrict their efforts to the execution of 
justice among Freedmen m cities, and Provost Marshals among 
those on plantations. My officers remained at their posts, 
directed to use every instrumentality to prompt the people to 
accept industry as it offered, dispensing the supplies that remain- 
ed to the dependent, awaiting the coming of those Agents ; but 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 17 

they did not appear. It soon became manifest that the army- 
alone had either the instrumentalities or the supplies at hand. 
These had already been prepared under my care, and I was or- 
dered to continue them. The plantation scheme thus started, 
we have before us all the various conditions of these people, and 
the instrumentalities connected with their case. 

ASSISTANCE TO COLORED FARMERS. 

Still anxious to see as many independent negro farmers as 
possible, I directed my officers, in some cases, to divide up lands 
under their control, among them; and where they had leases, to 
guard them against unprincipled speculators ; to assist them with 
necessary subsistence, etc., from the Government, taking a lien 
upon the crop as security for the payment of the same. During 
the period of confusion and distrust, while my officers were under 
the authority of the proposed scheme, benevolent effort had 
given up the idea of co-operation. 

CLASSIFICATION OF FREED PEOPLE. 

In view of the fact that many think of the Freedmen only 
in connection with abandoned property; and the amount of 
matter it becomes necessary to present in this Report, in refer- 
ence to those on plantations ; I would here, especially, call atten- 
tion to several classifications of their condition, which their care 
embraces, showing how partially they are or can be reached by 
any agents controling only industry connected with abandoned 
property. 

First, all new arrivals, and those employed as laborers in 
military service, as hospital attendants, officers' servants, employ- 
ees in the Commissary and Quartermaster's Departments, etc. 
Second, those resident in cities. Freedmen supply by far the 
larger share of industrial pursuits, as barbers, hackmen, draymen, 
porters, carpenters, shoemakers, blacksmiths, tailors, seamstresses, 
laundresses, waiters in hotels and private families, cooks, etc. 
Not a few of these are men of wealth. Many conduct enter- 
prises of their own, either mechanical or commercial. Some are 
teachers. Properly connected, too, with those resident in cities, 
are employees and waiters on steamboats, and stevedores. A 
third and large class find employment as wood choppers, on 
islands and at points of security along the river, rendering a ser- 
vice absolutely essential to our commercial and military opera- 



18 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

tions. This supervision, at the suggestion of General Grant, at 
the outset, gave careful attention to the supply of this industry. 
Fourth, those who labor on plantations. These are sub-divided : 
First, into those who are independent planters or gardeners ; 
either cultivating on shares, or leasing of the owners or Govern- 
ment. Second, those who are employed by the owners of the 
lands, or the whites or blacks who lease of the Government. It 
will be observed, by looking over these classifications, how small 
a share have really any connection with abandoned lands. Yet 
there are not a few, who claim to be the special friends of the 
negro, that demand that the care of all Freedmen should be 
given into the hands of those agents who manage abandoned 
property. The negro seems, to them, to be an appendage ol 
abandoned lands. 



WAJ^TS OF NEW COMEBS. 

All, on first coming to our lines, need direction or protec- 
tion ; and most, an immediate supply of food, shelter and cloth- 
ing. Often they come on mules, or horses, or carts, with more 
or less of their " truck." Generally, on reaching our lines, the 
picket ofiicers relieve them of all stock ; in this way, the Gov- 
ernment has been supplied with many thousand mules and horses. 
My officers have been instructed to secure to them the advan- 
tage of their stock, unless pressingly demanded for military pur- 
poses. Col. Thomas reports the property saved to those of one 
arrival, sold and turned over in cash to the respective owners, as 
amounting to |2,408. Sometimes the multitude is great. The 
Colonel reports 5,000 in his district from General Sherman's raid 
into Mississippi, and 2,500 from the Red River expedition. 

Few can appreciate the labors devolved upon my officers by 
these arrivals. Speculation, vice, and crime swarm around the 
mass of infancy, youth and age ; stealing their little gold and 
silver ; or decoying them away to abuse their ignorance, to ob- 
tain their services for nothing, or to continue their persons in 
the defilement to which they have become accustomed under the 
old system. Nothing but a military guard and the army facility 
for supplies was adequate. However they come, they require 
prompt attention. Their first employment is offered them in 
connection with the army. 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 19 

FREEDMEX OFFICEES EECEUITING. 

The extent of their direct military service, as soldiers and 
laborers, is illustrated at so many points in this Report as to re- 
quire no special statement here. Those first arriving, together 
with those in military service, constitute a large proportion of 
the people. My officers have frequently observed the readiness 
with which the able-bodied enlist, before their minds have been 
corrupted by life at private service, or in cities, or among the 
regimental camps. They have promptly directed their attention 
to this duty, and thus contributed, more or less, to the organiza- 
tion of all the numerous regiments within the limits of this su- 
pervision, as well as to the supply of all fatigue labor. 

EFFECT OF MILITARY LAW. 

The history of the attempts and hinderances, and finally suc- 
cessful processes, by which, through military law, we have, step 
by step, in cities, aided the colored man in rising from the debris 
which fell upon him in the tumbling, broken mass, in the general 
wreck of old slaveocratic municipal statutes, ordinances and 
customs, social and civil, would be highly instructive to the 
statesman ; but full details would be too voluminous, and I for- 
bear. Some cities, notwithstanding the acknowledged disloyalty 
of a decided majority, were allowed to keep up the form of 
electing municipal officers, who did no more to conform to the 
spirit of the Government, than was compelled by military exac- 
tion, especially with reference to the negro. Citizens would pay 
those freed under their old State laws ; but the man freed by 
Congress, or the Proclamation, or the exigencies of war, was 
most difierent; — was in their eye but an escaped "chattel." 
Return him to his master they could not ; but long after the pre- 
sence of our armies, municipal justice was dealt out to him in 
personal abuses ; in the application of the lash at the old whip- 
ping posts, or in doubling, for him, the fines imposed upon whites 
for the same offences. In some instances, appeals were made to 
the established Provost Marshals or Conmianders. Not a few of 
these failed to secure justice to the negroes, either from not 
knowing how to do it, or from some other cause. 

DIFFICULTIES OF FREEDMEN OFFICERS. 

Every attempt of my officers to secure the interests of these 



20 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

people, either in the payment of proper wages, or a fair admin- 
istration of justice, or considerate personal treatment, was met 
by all the force and violence of old prejudices, and the love of 
municipal fees, and the not unusual expression on the part of the 
Provost Marshal or Commander, that the Freedmen officer was 
meddling with that which was none of his business. Meantime, 
the law, to the negro, took any form or caprice. Any officer 
who wanted the service of colored men, sent out his guard and 
pressed them. The protection of no passes was acknowledged. 
The Superintendent was allowed to carry out his instructions 
without hinderance, either from officials or citizens, only with res- 
pect to those who were sick or outcasts, out of whom nothing 
could be made in the way of service or money. 

GENERAL GRANT'S EFFORTS, 

The negro population floated or was kicked about at will ; 
thus constituting the very best channels and instrumentalities for 
the enemy in the execution of their jmrposes, either in defeating 
the effectiveness of interior military orders, or in passing through 
our lines contraband information and supplies. My officers, op- 
pressed with labors and responsibilities, were reluctant to enter 
the arena. General Grant made special effi^rts to correct the 
evils through, the Provost Marshals ; but in vain. Events, by 
degrees, finally brought all the affairs of Freedmen before the 
Superintendents. The good sense of all pai'ties has approved. 
The results are conclusive. 

PUBLIC SPIRIT OF THE FREEOMEN. 

A sin2:ular fact occurred in connection with the collection of 
the tax temporarily required by Orders 63, on the wages of the 
able-bodied, for the support of the sick and otherwise dependent. 
It was thought, at first, that the negroes would submit to its col- 
lection with reluctance. Instead of this, however, it being a tax 
on wages, compelled the employer and employee to appear, one 
or both, before the officer charged with its collection, who allow- 
ed no wages to go unpaid ; and the negro soon saw in it his first 
recognition by Government ; and although it appeared in the 
form of a burden, responded to it with alacrity ; thousands finding 
in it the first assurance of any power protecting their right to 
make a bargain and hold the white man to its fulfillment. It was 
most interesting to watch the moral effect of taxing them. They 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 21 

freely acknowledged that they ought to assist in bearing the bur- 
then of the poor. They felt ennobled when they found that the 
Government was calling upon them, as men, to assist in the pro- 
cess by which their natural rights were to be secured. 
Thousands, thus saw, for the first time, any money reward for 
their services. The places where this tax was least rigidly col- 
lected, are now farthest behind in paying the colored man for his 
services. 

PASSES. 

In carrying forward the work, in cities, of bringing the 
people into their proper relations with the Government, we 
adojDted no complicated machinery. Our effort was, by the sim- 
plest processes, to take things as they were, and assure the blacks 
of their freedom before the law, the same as whites. All whites, 
within military lines, must have passes ; so must blacks. The 
Superintendent of Freedmen knew them best, and could best 
determine to whom to issue passes, permits, etc. ; so they were 
all requii-ed to receive his signature, either to remain in town, or 
to pass the lines of the army. At first, those for residents were 
given for a limited period, and each was required to have some 
responsible party vouch for his conduct, as the employer for the 
employee. Soon as one's trustworthiness became established, the 
time was extended and he received a pass or permit, the same as 
any white man at military posts. The extent to which this has 
been a check upon contraband trade and information, and j:)rac- 
tices subversive of social order and military discipline, is daily 
becoming more manifest. Where there has been no irregular 
interference by other officers, an exact record has been kept of 
passes issued to residents and parties passing the lines, and the 
number to each branch of business or industry in which they are 
engaged. 

All action necessary in adjudicating difficulties among the 
blacks, or between whites and blacks, natuially comes before my 
officers. As I write, however, cases are reported to me, in which 
injustice has resulted, by the negroes being influenced by other 
parties to seek redress through the remaining civil processes. 

This careful bringing under view the whole city population, 
has enabled the Superintendents materially to overcome idleness 
and vagrancy, and the vices and petty crimes connected with 
them. Major Young observes that — 



22 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

" The pass system worked like a charm. When it was made known 
to the Freedmen at Natchez, that it -was necessary to report at my office 
and register their names, employment, etc., 2,000 reported themselves in 
three days ; and I verily believe that they would all have reported in two 
hours, had there been a sufficient number of clerks to register their names 
and give them passes." 

Col. Thomas, — stating the difficulties encountered, — says : 

" I made many efforts to get this matter of passes before Commanding 
Officers, but never with success, until the arrival of Major General Dana: 
Freedmen's affairs are now conducted by the proper officers, who are in 
terested in their welfare. Permits to engage in any kind of labor are 
granted, if, after application and examination, the person is found worthy ; 
and to build houses and cultivate gardens. They are allowed to erect 
houses only outside the present line of fortifications, where a patch of land 
is assigned to each household. 

REGIMENTAL VILLAGES. 

" Officers of regiments are co-operating with us, in locating the fami- 
lies of their men in a body, on vacant lands adjoining the city, where they 
can labor ; and yet far enough from the regimental camps to prevent the 
demoralization attendant upon constant intercourse. It is the only true 
plan to dispose of the wives and children of our soldiers. It is an inj us- 
tice to those who are fighting in our armies to expose their families to 
murder and re-enslavement on distant plantations, which often happened 
during the excited speculations in the early part of the year." 

Thus, outside of the cities, but within the limits of security, 
they have the advantage of schools and other civilizing influences. 
New comers are allowed passes for a short time, to see if they 
can provide for themselves. Artisans have been specially en- 
couraged to remain in town. This population in cities, and 
around military posts, constitutes by far the larger class. Very 
many of those in cities find employment as stevedores, waiters, 
etc., on steamboats. The old ideas with reference to negroes, 
manifest no tougher form than among boatmen. They w^ere 
rough enough towards any negro not " disgraced" by receiving 
his freedom during the war. A fair compensation for services, 
to him, was too full an acknowledgment ol the supremacy of 
national authority. Occasionally, severe fines by the Provost 
Marshals have been necessary. The high wages exacted by 
white boatmen, have not only necessitated the employment of 
colored men, but such treatment and compensation as would se- 
cure their services. The prices paid are no longer a subject of 
complaint. But river steamboat customs will hardly be adjusted 
to the new order of things until the full force of interest is felt. 



DEPARTMENT OP THE TENNESSEE. 23 

EMPLOYED IN WOOD-YARDS. ' 



• 



The third class — those employed in wood-yards, though sub- 
ject to constant variations in numbers, like those above, has been 
large ; their work, essential to the keeping open of the river. 
Planters, not unfrequently forgetful that without the commerce 
moved by the fuel furnished by these laborers, their operations 
would be valueless or impossible, have demanded that all wood 
choppers should be forced to work on their plantations. 

Wood chopping has generally sprung up, here and there, 
along the bank, to invite steamboats to land, and to secure a little 
gain; or in connection with the gatherings of Freedmen, as aided 
and directed by my assistants. The necessity for wood has com- 
pelled us to encourage wood-yards where, for the lack of sulBi- 
cient force at our control, we were unable to protect the rights 
of the people. The faults charged upon contractors, in those 
localities, are not those of inflicting severe punishments, nor of 
refusing to pay for service ; but of so reckoning time, fixing rates 
or charging for supplies furnished, and taking no interest, any 
farther than profit dictated, in the sick or otherwise dependent, 
that they thus gathered around them, for their own interest, the 
able-bodied, and turned aside the destitute to suffer and die, or 
re.ceive support from the Government. As illustrative, I might 
quote what Col. Thomas says of his District : 

" The first start made toward furnishing the people in Freedmen 
camps with labor, was in the way of wood cutting. The wood ^was ne- 
cessary in supplying fuel to steamers engaged in transportation of the 
material of war for the use of our armies. The difficulties surrounding 
tliis enterprise were great ; but, bj'' diligent exertions, yards were started 
at Young's Point, Paw Paw Island, Omega Landing and Island 103. 
Many private parties also started woody ards at other places in a small 
way. The woodyards under this supervision seemed to point out the way 
in which they could make money. A grand rush was thus made by all 
who could gather together the material necessary for such an enterprise. 
One of the greatest drawbacks experienced in this work was the difficulty 
of getting the right kind of men to run the yards, — men who were capable 
of doing the business, and yet were humane, kind, industrious and ener- 
getic. Our experiments were various and often discouraging. Few men 
could stand up to the labor required of them, as they would have, under 
their charge, a camp of one thousand or more people ; and have to attend 
to the distribution of rations, to the work done, and to the general improve- 
ment of the camp. It was not strange that men broke down under the 
responsibility, and refused to perform the labor. 



24 REPORT OP SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

WOODYARDS TURNED OVER TO GAPT. RUSCH. 

" I am somewhat at a loss to get at the figures, in order to give you 
the statistics of these yards ; but will give, as nearly as possible, what will 
be an approximation to the different items. Before doing this, I should 
state, that in accordance with an order issued by the Secretary of War, in 
March, 1864, placing all woodyards under the control of Capt. N. J. 
Rusch, A. Q. M., I turned over the woodyards September 1st. He had 
represented to the Government that ha had a project, by which he could 
bring thousands of white laborers into the Mississippi Valley ; and the 
authorities, feeling that such a project, -if successful, would place that 
number of men virtually in the field, granted him the necessary authority. 

" I was acquainted with his idea, and am sure he never mentioned 
any purpose to assume charge of the Freedmen camp woodyards, or to 
interfere with the supervision of these people. But his order was issued 
in March ; time was passing away ; six months had passed without his 
plan doing anything ; and he felt that something must be done, and a 
showing of success, at least, be made, or the War Department would 
become dissatisfied with his failure. Knowing that the Freedmen wood- 
yards were being conducted very successfully, and produced large amomits 
of wood, he turned his attention to them ; and by construing his order as 
was never intended by the authorities who issued it, he demanded that I 
should turn over to him the woodyards ; and General Slocum, then in 
command, ordered in accordance with his wishes. 

STATISTICS OF WOODYARDS. 

" At this time there had been cut in the District, and delivered to 
steamboats, over 60,000 cords of wood, bringing to the Freedmen over 
$120,000, and saving to the Government an expense of about $90,000 
more, by selling at $1 50 per cord less than it could have got it from pri- 
vate parties. This wood was cut at very little expense to the Quartermas- 
ter's Department. Teams, wagons and gearing, brought in by the negroes 
from their plantation homes, were put into the yards by their owners, who 
felt willing to have them used for the convenience of the woodyards, while 
they were for their support. It should also be added, that several thou- 
sand cords of this wood were taken by the Government, and no vouchers 
given by the authorities takmg it, — being a clean gift from the negroes to 
the Government. 

IMPORTANCE OF WOODYARDS. 

" As woodyard labor is one of the many features of this District, and 
should be one of the most important that Freedmen industry is applied to, 
owing to its manifest necessity in carrying on military operations, I must 
go more into detail. The question now occupying the minds of officers in 
charge of Freedmen's affairs, as well as of the Commanding Generals, is, 
what is to be done with the negro after the planting season is over ? 

" It is plain that it will be impossible to lease as large a number of 
plantations for the coming season as were leased for the closing year ; nor 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 25 

can as many Freedmen be employed on plantations, without making mil- 
itary operations subservient to the cotton raising interest ; which is not the 
intention of the Government. The Commanding General has, accord- 
ingly, looked over the various plans for providing labor for the Freedmen, 
and has manifested his conviction of the soundness of this plan. At the 
diiferent Government woodyards in this District it is safe to say, that over 
one thousand people have been employed ; in private enterprises of like 
nature, fully five hundred more ; making a working force of 1,500, and a 
dependency of, at least, as many more ; so that the aggregate is 3,000. 
Now this can easily be increased, next year, to 5,000 people, who can cut 
wood, support themselves, and be no burden to the Government. Thej'' 
can be placed in safe localities, where there is no danger of their being 
murdered or carried away ; and where the supplies, intended for them, will 
not fall into the hands of rebels. 

" The woodyards under my care were located in the vicinity of our 
camps ; in places were it was safe for the working people and their friends, 
and also safe for steamers to land. The Superintendents in charge used 
the utmost exertion to have all the people in the camps perform some kind 
of labor — the men chopping, hauling, etc. ; the women loading, unloading, 
and cording it on its arrival in tlie j'ard. Efforts were made to combine 
all sorts of labor, whclhcr profitable or not, as the Government was res- 
ponsible for the support of the people, and they should, in return, do as 
much as they could. The wood was sold to Government and private par- 
ties, the people paid, and the balance turned over to the Freedmen Fund, 
and used for the purchase of clothing and other articles furnished to them, 
which the Government did not supply. It was our intention to introduce, 
as soon as possible, a system of machinery, by which the people could cut 
and deliver an increased amount of wood. With the produce of lands 
which the camps were working, and with the increase of their means 
otherwise, the people were drawing fewer rations every month ; and there 
was good reason to hope that they would soon be independent and self- 
supporting. Rations were issued to all alike, and there was no attempt 
made to make the chopper pay for what he received, as he was helping to 
support and care for the dependent portion of the camj), and should him: 
self be fed on that account. 

" As has been before mentioned, the teams, wagons, etc., belonged to 
the negroes themselves. Such property was of all descriptions, and often 
of the rudest make ; but served a good pm'pose. All these teams were 
taken up on the papers of the Quartermaster of Freedmen, so that forage 
could be drawn for their support ; and the property, in like manner, se- 
cured to the people from seizure. It was used in the camps for the gen- 
eral welfare of all. The people were contented with this arrangement, 
and were encouraged by the good faith of the officers in charge. Situated 
on richly- wooded, fertile and secure islands ; finding a ready market for 
all they could produce ; affording not only a support to the people in them, 
but an opening for thousands nu)re who now infest our military posts, or 
languish on distant plantations; gradually educating the people, and 
making them independent and self-reliant ; of no great expense to the 



26 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

Government ; tliey were, in my view, among the most hopeful and en- 
couraging of my district. 

PLAN OF CAPT. RUSCH, 

" The plan was simple, and claimed no great advantages, except that 
all the interests of the colored people were kept combined in the hands of 
one set of officers ; and that all the branches of industry and improve- 
ment were carried along together, without the sacrifice of any. . The gain 
from wood-cutting was expended in building houses, supplying tools, etc. 
Capt. Rusch has not materially changed the manner of conducting this 
business. His Superintendent merely causes the hands to cut as much 
wood as possible, and the teams to haul it. He has not added a team, nor 
sought to increase the amount of wood. He is simply using the means of 
these poor people ; and his policy has driven away all private enterprise, 
and lessened by one-third, the amount of wood cut. Negroes used to cut 
and haul wood on their own account, with their own teams, for $3 50 per 
cord ; he allows them but one dollar ; and of course the intelligent seek 
some other business and are lost to this. To supply their place he has 
sent many white refugees who hate the negroes ; and some of whom are 
rebels, too cowardly to tight. They crowd out the negro and take posses- 
sion of the hut which he built, forcing him and his family to unsafe plan- 
tations, where the pretentious refugee will not work. They hire only the 
able-bodied, in order that the yard may pay ; and this leaves only the dis- 
abled in charge of the Superintendent of Freedmen ; and they even go so 
far as to refuse us the use of the teams they have seized, to draw rations 
for the destitute from the landing to the storehouse. They pay one dollar 
per cord for cutting, and about twelve dollars a month for hauling — 
deducting cost of rations and furnishing nothing, but calling on us for 
clothes for their hands. 

" I have not space to give the particulars of this scheme. I have 
shown the injury, both to the people and the Government, of any attempt 
to carry on these woodyards outside of this supervision. Capt. Rusch has 
tried to start several yards near our camps at Davis Bend, and met with 
poor success." 

Capt. Walker, Superintendent of Freedmen at Memphis, on 
account of the limitations and infringements of the land assigned 
for the dependent, crowding all forms of industry and enter- 
prise possible — making bricks, cultivatmg gardens, &c., has been 
able to do so much in no other way as in cutting wood. 

In the vicinity of Helena the yards have been under private 
control, and the profits contributed to private ends, rather than 
to the support of the dependent, except on Island 63 and Old 
Island. Some speculators, by temerity in their location, or frau- 
dulent practices, have not only lost their own lives, but brought 
untold calamities upon the blacks. 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 27 

At Du Vall's Bluff, — the early Commanders not having 
encouraged the concentration of negro labor, not only have Gov- 
ernment stores rotted by thousands for the want of fatigue men 
to handle them; but Government has paid as high as |2 50 per 
cord for wood cutting ; and, sometimes, has been obliged to call 
on the soldiers to keep up the supply for boats arriving and leav- 
ing ; thus seriously impairing the efficiency of the troops, and 
rendering it impossible to give any considerable strength to the 
defenses. A different policy of late has greatly increased the 
industry. 

Freedmen supply Government with wood at Little Rock. 

Additional ficts, illustrative of each of the above points, 
appear at the different posts. Unquestionably the demands of 
commerce and military operations fairly met, by a correct ad- 
justment of this industry, according to some plan such as that 
already illustrated by my officers, modified as experience may 
suggest, will enable not less than 12,000 of these people to sup- 
port themselves, within this supervision, in safety and comfort, 
providing, in addition, tor schools, medicines, etc. Attention 
called to this subject, not only from Washington, but by Major 
General Canby and Major General Dana, gives us some hope that 
our wishes for the people and the Government are, in this res- 
pect, soon to be realized. 

LOCATION OF AVOOD-YARDS, SMUGGLING. 

The irresponsible location of wood-yards has had much to 
do with the landing of boats at unauthorized points, and the 
communication of contraband information and supplies to the 
enemy. 

Tliough it would add specially to the burdens of my offi- 
cers in charge of the Freedmen, I am confident tliero are no 
others so favorably situated to adjust this entire interest. In 
nearly every instance, beyond the immediate protection of mili- 
tary posts, islands could be selected at appropriate distances ; 
easily rendered safe by the presence of a company or so ; fur- 
nishing an abundant supply of fuel for all commercial and military 
purposes ; rendering it entirly inexcusable for boats to land at 
any other point. 

FREEDMEN ON PLANTATIONS. 

In regard to the last division of labor — that of Freedmen on 



28 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

plantations, so many questions of serious military bearing have 
been raised to Commanders, of profit and speculation to capital- 
ists ; and of life and civilizing influences to Freedmen, philan- 
thropists and statesmen ; that I have taken the utmost pains to 
bring forward all statistical and trustworthy intormation possible. 

BONDS FOR PAYMENT OP WAGES. 

The Superintendents and Provost Marshals were directed to 
examine all books, accounts, &c. ; and if settlements had not 
been fully and faithfully made with the employees, to require 
adequate bonds for the same, before any cotton or other products 
of labor could be shipped. Col. Thomas reports over two hun- 
dred of these bonds filed in the Vicksburg oflice, representing a 
conditional indebtedness of over $400,000. Lieut. Col. Mitchell^ 
Superintendent of Natchez, reports finding it necessary to re- 
quire bonds to the amount of $10,000 in single cases. 

QUESTIONS TO PLANTERS. 

Planters, in the Vicksburg District, including Natchez, were 
questioned by the Provost Marshals. 

In the Helena District, they met and answered the questions 
jointly, signing their names. Col. Thomas gives a synopsis of 
the answers taken down from one hundred planters, I make his 
synopsis the basis of the testimony, noting such difterences as 
are found in the answers gathered from the other Districts. 

1. Food. — 1. Specify the articles of food furnished to your 
employees. 

Bacon, pork, flour, meal, sugar, molasses, salt, some coffee, &c. This 
has often been varied from, and in some cases the bill of fare cut down to 
such articles as it would be impossible to live on. 

At Helena. — Rice, beans, tea, soap, candles and vinegar have been 
furnished in addition to the above. 

2. Specify the proportion (or amount) of each. 

All that the hands wanted. 
Helena. — Full rations. 

3. How have the small children, infirm parents, or other 
dependents of those employed by you, been supplied with food ? 

About one-half have furnished the dependents free of charge ; about 
one-quarter have cliarged the working hands with what tlieir non-produc- 
tive relatives ate ; and the rest say they paid no attention how they were 
furnished with food. 

At Helena. — " The same as laborers." 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 29 

4. Have the rations of the sick been stopped ? 

No : except in cases of malingering. 
Helena. — " They have not." 

5. What Sanitary stores have you sappUed for the sick or 
feeble ? 

Such articles as the attending physician recommended; no great 
variety generally ; tea, spirits and coffee are about all. 
Helena. — " Such as were needed and to be had." 

II. Clothing. — 1. How has clothing been furnished to your 
hands ? 

Fifty-five report, they have furnished what was necessary and 
charged it. Twenty did not furnish it at all, seeming to have paid little 
attention to it. Several claim that they have furnished a large quantity of 
clothing gratis, thinking it obligatory on them. 

Helena. — " Such as was necessary." 

2. What profit has been charged on the clothing sold 

them ? 

One-half sold at cost and transportation ; one-quarter at 15 per cent, 
profit, and one-quarter at 25 per cent profit, 
Helena. — " No profit charged." 

3. What has been its quality and sufficiency ? 

Of good quality and in sufllcient quantity. 

Many complain that they are inclined to take all, or more than all, 
their wages in clothes. 

Helena.—" The most serviceable quality, and what was necessarj^" 

4. What plan would you recommend for clothing the 

Freedmen on plantations, in the future ? 

One-half agree, that the best plan is to charge the clothing, and pay 
higher wages. Some think the present plan the best. 
Helena. — " Let them buy at their own discretion." 

5. Have you sold them any gewgaws or trinkets? 

No : is the universal answer. 
Helena.— "iV<?./" 

HI. Work. — 1. How many hours per day have your hands 
worked ? 

Much irregularity complained of; 25 report 8 hours as an average ; 
35 report 9 hours ; and 40 report 10 hours. 

Helena. — " From 6 to 8 hours." 

2. How many days per week ? 

General answer, 5^ days. Some say this is too high. 
• Helena. — " Not more than four days per week." 



30 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

3. What success have you had in securing industry ? 

Seventy-live report no trouble ; 15 have failed to secure good work; 
and several say that a good deal of driving was necessary. In general 
conversation on this subject, all admit they have worked as well as was 
expected. Their old slave habits, so slow and shiftless, often antagonize 
with the quick, active blood of the new Yankee planters. 

Helena. — " Very poor." 

4. What methods have you of securing success. 

Moral suasion. None will admit that they have abused the Freed- 
men, although the records of this office show that the moral suasion some- 
times consisted in the use of a club. 

Helena. — " No method." 

5. Have your people labored in rainy or stormy weather? 

" No," is the imiversal answer. 
Helena.—" No." 

6. What disposition to labor have they manifested as a 
class ? 

The majority say that when not disturbed by raids, they show wil- 
lingness to work. 

Helena. — " Very little as a class." 

V. Does your success show any superiority of free over 
slave labor ? 

The planters show no knowledge of slave labor. The absence of 
the able-bodied men in the army, and the prevalence of raids, are adduced 
as reasons, by some, why free labor at this time cannot compare favorably] 

Helena. — " We have no means of comparison." 

8. Is severity of manner, or profanity, necessary or useful 
in promoting industry ? 

Two-thirds answer. No. Some old planters, not yet clear of the old 
notions, claim that they are, and try to practise them. 

Helena. — " Emphatically, severity is necessary ; profanity is not." 

9. Do you see any improvement in their industrial habits ? 

Planters are about equally divided on this subject. Those who were 
capable of developing this kind of labor, report an improvement ; those 
who seem to have arrived at the almighty dollar only, and pay no atten- 
tion to the progress of their hands, report no change. 

Helena. — " They have improved in industry." 

IV. Wages. — 1. What rates have you paid? 

All but ten, in accordance with Orders 9 ; mechanics, &c., more than 
this. Ten have paid the highest wages in full for services, and allowed 
the hands to furnish their own subsistence. 

Helena. — " Rates of Orders 9, as a rule ; the best hands more. One 



DEPARTMENT OP THE TENNESSEE. 31 

paid the highest wages in full, and allowed the hands to purchase their 
own subsistence." 

2. How have they been paid ? 

One-half the wages, (mosthly in the form of clothes and other neces- 
asry articles,) paid as the hands have worked ; the other half of the wages 
has been reserved until the end of the season. Some of the planters, 
however, have paid up at the end of each month. 

Helena. — " In money and clothing." 

3. What is the most judicious plan of compensation? 

The planters generally recommend, that a part of the wages be re- 
tained, as at present, to prevent running around ; and that the rest be paid 
at stated periods to the hands, with which they may purchase any rations, 
clothing or other articles needed. 

Helena. — " Pay them in money." 

4. Would you leave the rate of wages, and the manner 
and time of payment entirely to the agreement of the parties ? 

No; Government should fix some minimum amount. 
Helena. — " We would." 

5. Would you classify by their ages, without regard to 
capacity or diligence, and thus determine tlie pay of these 

classes ? 

No ; Age and sex are poor criterions. 
Helena. — " We would not." 

6. Would you classify according to merit ; fix a minimum 
price for each class, and allow the parties to contract at any price 
above that ? 

Yes ; this is the best plan, as it is just, reliable, and incentive to ac- 
tivity, and an approach to the method by which white laborers are paid 
in the North. 

Helena. — " We would." 

V. Sanitary Affairs* — 1. How have your laborers been 
supplied witli medicines and medical attendance ? 

All say that they have furnished these things free. But I know that 
but little in this line has been done for the negro, and that they have been 
left to take care of themselves, except in extreme cases. 

Helena. — " Have kept a supply of medicine on each plantation, and 
had a physician when necessary." 

2. Can you suggest any better plan ? 

No ; unless they are to pay for all they get — medical supphes as well 
as other things. 

Helena. — " We cannot." (See concluding remarks.) 

VI. Schools. — 1. To what extent have your employees or 
their children attended school ? 



52 



REPORT OP SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 



2. If none, or very little, why ? 

3. Have they otherwise received any instructions ? 

The above questions are taken together, as none of them have kept 
any schools going on their plantations, except a few Sabbath schools ; but 
few books have been distributed or sold ; in general nothing has been done 
by the planters. 

Helena. — 1. " To a very limited extent." 

2. *' It has been impossible to procure teachers on account of raids, 
the want of and impracticability of getting houses, the disturbed condition 
of affairs, and the general disorganization of affairs when we commenced." 

3. " They have, in their moral obligations." 

VII. Domestic Helations. — 1. How have tlie people ob- 
served the social and family relations ? 

Better than was expected. Parents sometimes manifest a singular 
disregard as to what becomes of their children ; but what more can be ex- 
pected, when the parentage of the children is a matter of great uncertain- 
ty, as it is in African circles ? People who are living as husband and wife, 
seem to be tolerably faithful to each other, and those on plantations near 
posts have, in many instances, been lawfully married. 

Helena. — "They have not shown due regard for the family and 
social relations." 

2. Have those living together as husband and wife, been 
instructed as to the duty of marriage, as required by the Order 
of the War Department ? 

In almost all instances — No. 
Helena. — " They have." 

3. If so, with what effect ? 

Not having been instructed, there is no effect to talk about. 
Helena. — " With good effect." 

4. What regard for truth and for the rights of property 
have your laborers shown ? 

5. What improvement can you report in these respects 
under your tuition ? 

The planters answer to these two questions, — that the negroes gen- 
erally will lie and steal, and that they will improve as they are better edu- 
cated and taught. They recognize the lamentable influence of slavery on 
the morals of the negro, and sometimes say, it is no wonder that they 
learned to steal what should have been given them, and lied to screen 
themselves from barbarous punishment. 

Helena. — 4. " Some very great; majority, ver}'^ little." 

5. " Very substantial improvement." 

6. Are the people generally disposed to remain on the plan- 
tations, or to roam abroad ? 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 33 

Under good treatment, and when secure from guerrillas, they cheer- 
fully remam ; but on exposed plantations they are restless and uneasy. 
Helena. — " As a rule, they are now disposed to remain." 

VIII. 1. Is there any manifest improvement in their dis- 
position to labor steadily, as the season advanced, and as they 
received compensation ? 

(See answers to 4, 6 and 9, under " Work.") 
Helena.—" There is." 

2. How do the mixed and unmixed races compare as la- 
borers ? 

The unmixed are better dispositioned and better workers, owing, it 
is supposed, to the fact that they have none of the chivalric blood of the 
South in their veins. 

Helena. — " There is no difference." 

3. In the present disturbed state of the country do you 
believe that the highest interests of the negro and his employer 
can be secured without military organization and instrumentali- 
ties ? 

They do not. 

Helena. — " They cannoV 

4. Ought lessees of plantations who treat their laborers 
cruelly, to be suftered to renew their leases ? 

Helena. — " They ought not." 

SUGGESTIONS OF HELENA PLANTERS. 

The planters near Helena conclude their joint replies by the follow- 
ing observations : — " Since the above questions evince a desire, on your 
part, not only to ascertain the true condition of the negroes, and the suc- 
cess of working them under the present system, but also a desire to im- 
prove upon that system ; we take the liberty to suggest some of the 
defects which our practical experience has discovered, and how we think 
they can be remedied. 

" First — There should be a tangible power to compel all parties to 
fulfil their contracts. This power would be properly lodged in a Provost 
Marshal, (contemplated in the regulations, but which we never had,) whose 
duty it should be to visit from plantation to plantation, with authority to 
correct any and all abuses practised either by lessees or Freedmen ; to 
compel laborers to render service ; to decide upon all cases of minor im- 
portance; and to enforce discipline and order. This officer should be 
accompanied by a phj^sician, who should minister to the sick, inspect ne- 
gro quarters, and determine who should be exempt from labor on account 
of sickness. This last officer has become a necessity, from the difficulty of 
procuring medical attendance when needed, from the want of adequate 

means to compel the negroes to keep their quarters clean, and because 

5 



34 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

many laborers feign sickness, to their own positive injury and the detri- 
ment of all parties. These officers should, above all, he just nien^ and^^si- 
ness men ; and should be accompanied by a guard of two or four mounted 
men, who would serve as body guard, and enable the officers at all times 
to execute their orders with certainty and despatch. They should visit 
the plantations, because in the present condition of things, the presence of 
power is required, and all abuses should be corrected on the spot, to show 
the existence of moral and physical power. If, therefore, officers appointed 
for these purposes, and clothed with these or similar powers, remain live 
or ten miles distant from the homes of the negroes, and their places of 
labor, they are of no practical benefit. 

" With a system of this kind, both the negro and the lessee will be 
secure, — the former from all impositions and evil practices of the latter ; and 
the latter of something like the just and faithful services of the former. 
With it, we think a good crop of cotton can be made, which will bring a 
large revenue to the Government, and at the same time secure the highest 
interests of all parties. 

" Second — We should have a settled, definite and efficient system of 
protection. A few men can, on account of the geography of the country, 
protect all the land that can be worked by the labor now to be obtained. 

KEMARKS OP MK. LANDON. 

Mr. M. D. Landon, a lessee in the Helena District, remarks: 

" During the cropping time of 18G4 I have employed from fifty to 
one hundred Freedmen ; have furnished medicines and medical attendance 
gratis ; and have furnished the following articles of food at 15 per cent, 
advance on Cincinnati prices : — bacon, meal, flour, pork, mackerel, sugar, 
molasses and cotfee. Clothing has been furnished to my employees at 
Cincinnati prices. They have been paid as follows : — women, $16 per 
month ; men, $25 per month ; boys, $20 per month, up to November 1st. 
Since that time they have been paid by the pound, receiving $1 25 per 
hundred for seed cotton. 

" I have had no school, because the nmnber of children (three or four) 
would not warrant it. 

" If labor is paid well, it will work well ; if paid poorly, the result will 
be the reverse." 

HINDEEANCES TO SUCCESS. 

Col. Thomas adds remarks, explanatory and statistical, from 
which I make extracts : 

" The early part of the season was very dry ; the planters did not 
get the crop in the ground before April ; and the bad seed they were com- 
pelled to plant made a replanting necessary for large portions. There 
were many other drawbacks and discouragements, as the planters were 
men not accustomed to the business. Freedmen were not paid during the 
year, but furnished with food and clothing, in accordance with the terms 



DEPABTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 35 

of the order. This was hard for the negroes to understand, as they want- 
ed pay for their work as fast as they did it. The clause of the order com- 
pelling them to wait for their money till the end of the season, was adopt- 
ed to prevent their leaving a place after contracting to work on it. Many 
of the lessees, in the beginning of the year, adopted too severe a mode of 
government for the hands, savoring of the old system ; and the result has 
been a failure on their part to secure either the labor or the good will of 
the people under their charge. The wiser planters have adopted a system 
of rewards for faithfulness and industry, and have aimed to stimulate 
them to exertion through their love of approbation, and by their extra 
pay, rather than through fear. 

THE ARMY WORM. 

*' About the 1st of September, the army worm attacked the cotton 
crop in the Valley, and nearly swept it away. It was very discouraging 
to the planters. After braving all the perils of guerrilla warfare ; after 
months of hard work ; and after being at great expense in furnishing sup- 
plies under vexatious trade regulations ; it was hard to see the whole crop 
snatched away, just as the dazzling dream of immense wealth began to 
look probable and real. 

PARSIMONY OF PLANTERS. 

" This, of course, liad its effect upon the prospects of the Freedmen. 
The planters naturally became more close with the negroes, and it requir- 
ed more vigilance on the part of the Provost Marshal of Freedmen, to 
secure the blacks justice. Many planters, feeling that they would not 
want the labors of Freedmen any more this year, commenced trying to 
drive them into the camps by all the machineiy of scanty rations, guerrilla 
scares, quarrels, etc. The clause in their contract requiring them to keep 
their employees until the 1st of January, 1865, was forgotten in an instant. 

" The necessity of some action, to prevent these impositions upon the 
negro, and disobedience to the orders of the Government, becoming great, 
a Circular was issued from this office, calling the attention of planters to 
the clause referred to, and informing them that they would be compelled to 
live up to their agreement. This had the desired effect, although some of 
the meaner sort still try to practise the old game." 

Tlie necessity of this became apparent, for the whole field ; 
and was so extended. Col. Thomas continues : 

" This labor on plantations has required a greater number of hands 
than formerly. For various reasons they do not do as much work, in pro- 
portion to their number, as under the old slave system. All the able- 
bodied men are in the army ; and the disturbed condition of the country 
fills the minds of these old men, women and half-grown children with 
apprehension. These two causes are sufficient to account for the decrease 
in the efficiency of labor. 

" All people now coming in from plantations are sent to Davis Bend; 



36 REPORT OP SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

and arrangements are made to charge planters with rations issued to such 
people, from the time they arrive till the 1st of January, 1865. 

MONEY PAID TO TEEEDMEN, 

" The actual amount of money paid to these people,, by planters, will be 
small, as the clause in Orders 9, requiring planters to furnish clothing,was, 
unfortunately, cut out ; and at the rates paid for clothing, it takes about 
all the negro can earn to settle his bills. This has led to discouragement ; 
as it is impossible for him to reason about such matters. He looks only at 
results. He sees that the white man has received his labor, and has paid 
him with food and clothing, — about the same he used to get. 

" To give you an idea of the plantation labor performed by Freed- 
men this year, I have compiled the following statistics : 

Number of plantations - 163 

Number of acres in cultivation 74,981 

Average number of acres to plantation _. 463 

Of this amount fally one-third was abandoned by the planters, on ac- 
count of the scarcity of labor, leaving about 40,000 acres fully cultivated. 
On these plantations there were 9,192 Freedmen employed, who, with their 
families, make an aggregate of about 17,500 people, living on the farms of 
this District. We expected, confidently, about 40,000 bales ot cotton as 
the result of this season's labor ; but the army worm, as before stated, has 
probably reduced the amount to about 8,000 bales." 

CULTIVATION IN ARKANSAS. 

Major Sargent generalizes as follows : 

" No. of plantations worked, about 100. 

No of acres in cultivation, 50,270. 

Some few of the plantations first taken were abandoned, but were 
subsequently taken by others. 

" The demand for plantation labor has been greater than could be 
answered, even after removing all blacks from Island 10, and securing 
others from Memphis. The wiser planters held out extra inducements by 
way of rewarding industry, by promising a bale of cotton or suit of clothes, 
etc. Unluckily, the army worm appeared and nearly ruined the crops ; 
enough was saved, however, as a general thing, to pay expenses and stim- 
ulate the planter to try again. At this time, all the present hands who 
desire to work are engaged for another year ; the lessees being anxious to 
secure their services. 

" The wages of Freedmen will be paid. Money and clothing have 
been furnished from time to time, not generally to exceed one-half their 
earnings, and the remainder secured by bonds or cash deposited in the 
hands of my Superintendents, to be paid over when they adjust the in- 
debtedness still existing. 

" Many of the lessees, connected with planting, were discharged 
army officers." 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 37 

pkesident's island. 

As before stated, this Supervision hoped to see a large num- 
ber of negro planters using their own capital, or aided by bene- 
volence or by the Government. 

President's Island, below Memphis, originally occupied at 
the suggestion of Gen. Grant, and by Gen. Hurlbut's order, was 
taken away from our control, and j)ublic interest sacrificed to 
private. Our hopes with respect to it were vain. Gen. Dana 
has, however, again opened this opportunity to the people, by the 
following Order ; and we anticipate much for the coming year. 

Head-quarters Department of Mississippi, 

Memphis, Tennessee, Dec. 17, 1864. 

Special Orders No. 10, Paragraph 8. 

The exigencies of the service rendering it absolutely indispensable. 
President's Island, in the Mississippi river below Memphis, Tennessee, is 
hereby reserved and set apart for the purposes of the Freedmen's Depart- 
ment, and is placed under the exclusive control of Col. John Eaton, Jr., 
General Superintendent of Freedmen, and such officers as he may place 
in charge of camps, farms, mills or other interests. 

All white persons not directly connected with the military service 
will be required to leave the Island before the first day of January, 1865, 
and after that date no white person will be allowed to land on any part of 
the same without written permission so to do, either from these Head- 
Quarters, the Head-Quarters District of West Tennessee, the General Su- 
perintendent of Freedmen, or the Provost Marshal General of Freedmen, 
and none other. 

By order of Major General N. J. T. Dana. 

T. H. Harris, 
Assistanl Adjutant General. 

colored cultivators at HELENA. 

Near Helena, the amount and safety of abandoned lands were such 
as to lead me to instruct the Superintendent to secure a large interest to 
the negroes as independent planters. Some forty thousand dollars are re- 
l)orted as the aggregate income of the colored lessees. But the number of 
lessees, and the amount of their income, would have been much greater, 
had my instructions been in no way thwarted. The parties so greatly in 
opposition in the Spring are now fully co-operative. 

COLORED cultivators DISTRICT OF VICKSBURG. 

Col. Thomas observes : "Many negroes leased small pieces of land 
from the Treasury Department, in the Spring, and have worked through 
the year with good success. They had to gather up their stock, material, 
&c., from abandoned plantations near them, and depend upon various 
sources for food for themselves and their hands. Many have made ar- 
rangements with parties in Vicksburg for such aid, binding themselves to 



38 REPORT OP SUPERINTENDENT . OP FREEDMEN, 

deliver a portion of their crop at the end of the year to settle the debt. 
As a general thing, this has not been advantageous to the negro ; but where 
injustice was glaring, I have interfered and made arrangements to pay 
with the crop the actual fair value of the debt incurred. 

"Some of the negroes had money at the end of last year, and have 
been able to pay for their supplies as they went along. These, of course, 
have done well. They make more money than the white lessee, when 
they are placed on the same footing. Their wants are simple and easily 
supplied ; they have no expensive vices ; they do fall work themselves ; 
and being of the same race with those they hire, succeed in getting good 
and steady work out of them. 

"Those lessees, who have drawn their supplies from the Government, 
will succeed best, as they have received food at low rates, and have been 
credited. Thus they have avoided sacrificing their crops in advance to 
pay for their subsistence. 

"They have all had trouble in shipping their cotton. As regulations 
would not allow them to sell here ; and as they have no way of sending it 
North ; they have had to appoint attorneys to attend to the business for 
them. They have not always succeeded in getting honest men to attend 
to it ; but, with the care we have exercised in the matter, I feel that they 
have generally been secured in their rights. The plan now adopted for 
the shipment of cotton, through Mr. Spelman, if adopted some time ago, 
would have saved the people great loss in taxes, freight, fees, &c. 

"The following are the statistics on this subject for my District. You 
will compare these statements of the doings of Negro lessees with those 
respecting white planters, presented above. 

Number of Plantations, ._ _ 180. 

Acres under cultivation, _ 5,870. 

Average No. of acres to Plantation, 33|. 

Number of hands employed, 380. 

and Population of about _ 1,500." 

DAYIS BEND. 

This is a rich section of alluvial land, twenty-five miles below 
Vicksburg, on the east side of the Mississippi, enclosed in a huge 
bend of the river, as it turns from its onward course westward, 
and rounds to the eastward, running some twenty-eight miles, 
and leaving a neck about seven hundred yards wide to join the 
peninsula thus formed to the mainland of the State of Mississippi. 
It was noted, before the rebellion, as the place where once resi- 
ded General Quitman, Jeff. Davis and his brother Joe. The lat- 
ter was a man of wealth. His plantation had a hospital, jail, a 
system of classification of hands, and a kind of negro judiciary 
for the trial of offences among his slaves. It was visited by for- 
eigners, to get an idea of a model plantation, and of the institu- 



DEPARTMENT OP THE TENNESSEE. 39 

tion in its most improved developement. He donated to his 
brother Jeff., from the east section ot his domain, one thousand 
acres; where, according to the testimony of the inhabitants, some 
eighteen years ago Jeff, built for his residence the house now 
occupied by the teachers and officers. 

GENERALS GRANT ANT> M'PHEKSOX. l)EEANGEME2sT. 

There are about nine thousand acres in the Bend ; seven 
thousand under cultivation. Gen. Grant, busy with the seige of 
Vicksburg, foreseeing the future, proposed that this Bend should 
be occupied by the treedmen, and if possible " become a negro 
paradise," Gen. McPherson ordered its occupation. This was 
commenced by Col. Thomas. When the derangement, before 
noticed, occurred, through the Treasury Department, the Quit- 
man and Turner property was allowed, without the responsibil- 
ity of this supervision, to go to heirs, who took the oath, but 
confirmed it only by disloyal acts. The Plantation Agents also 
leased land so as to exclude the negroes from the benefit of a 
large portion of the Joe Davis lands. With these disadvanta- 
ges, and the spring already advajiced into April, Col. Thomas re- 
sumed control under the order of the Secretary of War, issu- 
ed by Adjutant General Thomas, directed to me. The order 
was intended to restore the land to the purpose for which 
we had occupied it. But coming so late, all work having been 
stopped after hundreds of acres had been plowed, and other gen- 
eial preparations considerably advanced, the negroes lost confi- 
dence. The encroachments of private parties, by leasing from 
Phmtation Agents, also increased the restriction of the freed- 
men. 

TIME LOST. ARRANGEMENTS. 

Col. Thomas, who gave himself most earnestly to the reduc- 
tion of these difficulties, reports ; — 

" Many of the objections to the present plan of operations could have 
been obviated, had more time been given for maturing plans, getting men 
to till important places, and gathering material to work with. The land 
was immediately divided between about seventy of the best negroes, giv- 
ing to each an average of over thirty acres. Mules, tools, &c., were let 
out to each; most of which property was gathered up by the negroes from 
deserted plantations in rebeldom. The negro who took a piece of land, 
took with his family as many of his fellovv^ servants as he thought he would 
need. The object was, to furnish every thing necessary through the Gov- 



40 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

ernment, charge to the recipients, and receive payment from them at the 
end of the year. 

COLORED PEOPLE'S WOEK. 

"The people entered, upon the work earnestly, laboring early and 
late, with an energy, industry, and close calculation of results that was 
hardly expected of them. Over two thousand acres were planted in cot- 
ton, corn and vegetables, and steadily worked through the season. The 
Provost Marshal heard complaints, settled disputes, saw that the rights of 
all were respected, the guilty punished, the idle made to work, and the old 
and sick taken care of. 

RESULTS OF THEIR WORK. 

" About the middle of August, their cotton was in fine condition, 
with a good prospect of a thousand bales. But the army worm visited 
this favored locality, and was as successful in spoiling this prospect as on 
plantations elsewhere. This had a discouraging effect on the planters, as, 
instead of being so prosperous as they had imagined, they would hardly 
have enough to pay their bills and start fair next season. The colony has 
raised one hundred and thirty bales, and has them ready for shipment. 
This will pay off each one's indebtedness, and leave him from $500 to 
$2500 for his year's work. They have corn and vegetables enough to last 
them through the winter, and keep their stock until the grass grows in the 
Spring. They have this season put up comfortable houses, and have many 
of the comforts of life around them. They have fought the difficulties of 
the year, and feel stronger for the efforts they must make for the next. 
They have learned lessons they will never forget, and their experience will 
be worth much to them hereafter. The success of the plan has induced 
Major General Dana to issue the following order, devoting the whole pe- 
ninsula to such purposes:" 

Head-quarters, 16th Army Corps, 

ViCKSBURG, Miss., November 5th, 1864. 

Special Orders, No. 120, Paragraph 2. 

The following order, which, for some unknown reason, has been dis- 
regarded during the past season, is now reiterated and will be strictly 
enforced : 

Natchez, Miss., March 28, 1864- 

Special Orders, No. 15. {^Extract :^ 

All the property in the Palmyra Bend, Miss., except the Turner and 
Quitman plantations, is hereby reserved for military purposes, on which 
will be established a " Home Farm," and to furnish laud for Freedmen for 
their own cultivation. The General Superintendent of Freedmen will 
have entire control, under the proper military authorities. 

By Order of the Secretary of War, 

(Signed,) L. Thomas, 

Adjutant General. 

The exceptions made in the Order above, will no longer be regarded, 

and the whole peninsula known as Davis Bend, including the three 

islands known as " Hurricane," " Palmyra," and " Big Black," is reserved 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 41 

for military purposes, and will be exclusively devoted to the colonization, 
residence and support of Freedmen. 

The limits described will easily support not less than twenty-five 
thousand of that class, who are now more or less dependent on the Gov- 
ernment ; and, as the place is gaiTisoned and defended with that intention, 
it will no longer be^suliered to be used for private profit, whilst destitute 
colored people are wandering* as ; vagrants through the streets of towns, 
are huddled in localities exposed to inroads fromthe enemy, and are fed 
on Government rations. 

Davis Bend is perfectly secured against attack and rebel raids ; it is 
the natural home of the destitute and needy contraband, where his labor 
will be easily and richly rewarded under sure protection. It was never 
intended that this security should be afforded, at a high cost to the Gov- 
ernment, under pretence of providing a " Freedman's Home," in order 
that three or four fortunate persons should be favored with Leases of 
plantations in so desirable a locality. 

The home of Jefferson Davis is a suitable f>lace to furnish the means 
of support and security for the unfortunate race he is being so instrumen- 
tal in oppressing. 

All white persons not connected with the military service will be 
required to leave the above limits before the first day of January, 1865, 
and after that date no white person will be allowed to land on any part of 
, the same without written permission so to do, either from these Head- 
Quarters, the Head-Quarters District of Vicksburg, the General Superin- 
tendent of Freedmen or the Provost Marshal General of Freedmen. 

Col. Samuel Thomas, 64th U. S. Colored Infantry, Provost Marshal 
General of Freedmen, under direction of Col. John Eaton, jr.. General 
Superintendent of Freedmen, is charged with the execution of this order, 
and the 64th U. S. Colored Infantry is at their disposal for the objects 
thereof 

By Ordek of Major General N. J. T. Dana: 

T. H. Harris, 

Lieut. Col. and Ass't Adj't Gen'l. 

"The clause of the General's order saying, that for some cause the 
order of the Honorable the Secretary of War has been disregarded, refers 
to a portion of the lands leased by the Treasuiy Department, before the 
issue of the order, to private parties, w:ho had expended a large sum of 
money and made some improvements on the land. The General Superin- 
tendent thought, owing to this fact, and the lateness of the season when 
the order was issued, as well as the small amount of material at our dispo- 
sal to carry out the project, that it was not best to interfere with these 
parties. 

"The success of this enterprise has created quite a desire, on the part 
of the colored people in this city to go into such a colony next year. The 
more intelligent pnrt of the Negro population are beginning to see the 
immense advantages of such a scheme, and are engaged in organizing a 
colony, which proposes to take at least one thousand acres, divide it on 
the plan adopted this year, build their houses, secure the land for one year 
certainly, and, if possible, a sure vested title to it. The project promises 
success, and if carried out will be done by Negroes entirely, under the di- 
rection of the proper authorities. 

"Besides the colony spoken of previously, there are now, on Davis 

Bend, many destitute people, who have been supplied with rations by, and 

have done some work for, the Government." 

6 



42 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

PLANTATION AGENT'S FARM AT NATCHEZ. 

In caring for the dependent, I may observe, in addition to 
the various statements above, that we have received no aid from 
Plantation Agents. Had they accomplished what they propo- 
sed, we should have been free fi-om any such care. The only 
attempt made by them was at Natchez. There they occupied 
the only opportunity for dependent labor ; but drew to the plan- 
tation from the freedmen village for the dependent, chiefly of 
such as might have found labor for pay with private parties, and 
prevented any other effort for self support by cultivation of lands 
on the part of those who remained. 

Soon they found all of their Commissary, Quartermaster 
and Medical supplies must come from the army ; and they had 
neither forms of business to correspond to, nor oflicers to man- 
age it. The sanitary condition of this so-called home was con- 
demned by the Medical Director of Freedmen at the time of his 
first visit. The Plantation Agents, seeing the inexpediency 
of managing this business by any other than military instrumen- 
talities, began early to ask my officers to assume charge. These 
officers found public so mixed up with private interests there, 
that they declined the responsibility, until peremptorily ordered 
by Gen. Brayman to assume it. Lt. Col. Mitchell reported that 
Government mules, wagons and rations had been used for the 
benefit of private parties. 

SCARCITY OF LAND LEFT FOR FEEBDMEN. 

From Lake Providence to Vicksburg, embracing a river line 
of something over fifty miles, it was found that these Agents, 
when my officers were called upon to care for the poor, had leas- 
ed every plantation and house, leaving neither an acre of soil, 
nor a cabin for the dependent ot the entire laboring population. 

Against all these difficulties, and the lateness of the season, it 
will be seen, from several statements of my Assistants, that 
the system adopted for the support of paupers, would have ren- 
dered them not only self-supporting, but profitable to the Gov- 
ernment, had not the army worm appeared. Notwithstanding 
this destruction of the crop, it is believed that the settlement of 
the accounts of the home at Pine Bluff will show an increase to 
the Government. 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 43 

THE TESTIMONY OF FREEDMEN. 

The generalization of the testimony of planters is naturally 
followed by a synopsis of the statements gathered from the Freed- 
men. The visitation of a considerable portion of the plantations, 
by any of my assistants, was known to be especially hazardous ; 
and the taking of the testimony of the freed people, in any form 
available for use, peculiarly difficult. Rev. A. S. Fiske, of known 
courage, unyielding integrity, and of large experience among the 
people, was selected to take this testimony. Being familiar with U 
all the discriminations necessary to be made in noting their evi- 
dence, he has successfully accomplished the difficult task, as will 
be seen Vjy his condensed Report, here introduced, 

INSPECTIOX BY CHAPLAIN FISK. 

Memphis, Tenn., Dec. 8th, 1864. 
Lieut. John F. Perry, 

Adjutant Freedmen's Department : 

I have the honor to submit the following report of an inspection of 
plantations, undertaken in oljedicnce to Special Oreers No. 80, from your 
office. 

xl'mbek of plantations. 

Tlie inspection has covered ninety-tive places leased by whites, and 
fifty-six plats of land worked by the blacks for tliemselves, in the Districts 
of Natchez, Vicksburg and Helena. In these Districts, 1 have left but few 
accessible places without exammation ; perhaps twenty in all. Little 
Rock and Pine BlutF were not visited, as letters from j^our office indicated 
that your reports would not admit the necessary dela3\ 

Immediately, on receipt of orders assigning to myself the duty of 
this inspection, I repaired to Vicksbnrg, and thence, by Col. Thomas' sug- 
gestion, to Natchez, where there are twenty-one places, out of the one 
hundred leased, which, in some sense, can be said to have been cultivated 
during the greater portion of the season — most of them under control of 
a single cabal of men, who either are, or have been, in the position of offi- 
cial control of plantations. Three of these plantations I was unable to 
visit, as, just then they were in actual occupation by guerrillas. 

In tlie Yicksburg District I found and examined the condition of 
sixty-four places leased by whites, and left without examination perhaps a 
dozen besides. Three hundred and twelve leases were held in June. 

At Helena, actual inspection was made of ten places, leaving some 
half-dozen. Yet I was able to get reliable information from them all. 

In the Memphis District there are, properly, no plantations in culti- 
vation. 



44 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, . 

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS. 

Answers to the questions, propounded to the Freedmen by direction of 
your office, may be analyzed as follows. Specifications of each plantation 
are herewith submitted : 

1. Food. — 1. Articles of food received from employers ? 

Ans. — All the articles specified as component parts of Freedmen's 
ration (Order No. 4, L. Thomas,) have been issued to the laborers 

on plantations, 10. 

Pork, meal (or flour) and salt, on plantations, 95. 

Molasses (or sugar) on plantations, 83. 

2. Amount of each article ? 

Ans, — Full ration in all articles on plantations, 10. 

" of salt " " 95. 

" meal(orflour) " 80. 

" " molasses (or sugar) " . 51. 

Half ration of molasses " 38. 

Part " " meat '' 85. 

3. Supply of children, infirm and dependent? 

Ans. — By employers, on plantations, 37. 

By laborers (in part or wholly) on plantations, 58. 

4. Have the rations of the sick been stopped ? 

Arts. — No, on plantations, 5G. 

Yes, (in whole or in part) on plantations, 39. 

More or less of Sanitary supplies on plantations, 18. 

II. Clothing. — 1. What kind of clothing has been furnished 

by employers ? 

Ans. — Putting this and the last clause of the next question together 
— The needed variety and amounts — 

on plantations, 70. 

Less than the needed variety and amounts, 25. 

2. At what price has clothing been furnished ? 

Ans. — At cost, with expense of freight, on plantations, 19. 

At from 10a25 per cent, advance, " " 76. 

3. How have children, sick and infirm, and old been sup- 
pUed with clothing ? 

Ans. — By laborers, or not at all, on every plantation ; and their lib- 
erality has been praiseworthy. 

4. Gewgaws and trinkets ? 

Ans. — There seems to have been little or no business done in this 
line. 

III. Work. — 1, How many hours per diem have you 
worked ? 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 45 

« 

Ans. — It is hardly possible to make an analysis of the multitudinous 
and uncertain answers to this question. On some places, the attempt has 
been made to get the full ten hours, seldom succeeding with any consider- 
able number of hands. On other places, the effort has not been strenuous 
on the number of hours, but expended in the endeavor to get a day's work 
done in whatever number of hours the blacks chose to work. I should 
not judge that the laborers had averaged beyond eight hours per day. 

2. How many days per week ? 

Ans. — It is about as difficult to answer this as the former question. 
On some places, the average would probably come as high as four and one- 
half or five days' work from each person who professed to work that week. 
Many individuals have made thefr five and one-half days per week for 
successive weeks. But many, on the contrary, have worked most irregu- 
larly. Five and a half days in any week, have been credited a full week 
on thirty-four plantations. Not so credited on the remaining sixty-one. 

3. Treatment from white men on plantations ? 

Ans. — No complaint was made in forty-eight cases. On the remain- 
ing forty-seven plantations there was complaint of rough, or profane, 
or obscene, or insulting usage ; while blows and kicks have been not in- 
frequently administered on some ; mainly, I am happy to say, by the old 
Southern overseers. A certain roughness and severity of manner, how- 
ever, has been used, fooUshly, on almost all plantations. 

4. Have you worked in rainy or stormy weather? 

Ans. — No : except under cover. But the laborers have lost time and 
wages for it on sixty-six plantations. Rainy weather has been credited on 
twenty-nine plantations only — making a most serious reduction of month- 
ly wages. 

IV. Wages. — 1. How much pay have you received during 

the year for your w^ork ? 

Ans. — As an average, not enough, bej'ond the current necessities of 
selves and dependents for clothing, to provide them comfortable apparel 
for winter. Of course the amounts vary on different places and with dif- 
ferent places and with different persons. This most forlorn result of a 
season's labor is referable to the combination of a number of causes. 

1st. The loss of time, resultmg from guerrilla incursions, or the fear 
of them ; which loss is borne by the laborer (except in two honorable in- 
stances — those of Mr. John S. Harris and Maj. John Lynch); and which 
lias commonly been the loss of both wages and rations. 

2. To the loss of rainy weather and Saturday afternoons, and by 
sickness. 

3. To the loss of time from indisposition to labor steadily. 

4. To the destitution of clothing in which many of them came to 
the plantations, and the necessity for the purchase of cooking utensils. 

5. To the very rigid economy in which the planters justify them- 
selves by the partial failure of the cotton crop. Many of them have even 
proposed to stop rations and wages as soon as the crop was out. Many 



46 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

have, as seen already by reference to 1. 3 and 4 above, compelled the la- 
borers to support dej)endents and the sick. Perhaps the followmg calcu- 
lation may make the matter clearer : 

ESTIMATE OF AVERAGE EESULTS OF LABOR. 

The laborers, taken together, will have begun work about March 1st. 

Cr. 
Ten months labor at $10 per month of 26 working days.. $100 00 

Dr. 

Saturday afternoons lost, 43 half days, 21 i days $ 8 25 

Rainy weather " 49 days 15 00 

Siclmess, time " 13 " 5 00 

Odd daj^s lost through disinclination to work, 13 5 00 

Time lost by fear of guerrillas, 13 days. 5 00 

Total balance of credit for the year 61 75 

A man will require these goods, viz : two pairs shoes, $5 ; 1 pair 
shirts, $5 ; 2 pairs pants, $6 ; straw and felt hat, $2 ; 2 cotton handker- 
chiefs, $1 50 ; 2 pairs socks, $1 50 ; 1 coat, $4 ; suspenders or jack knife, 
$1. He will be sure to expend $5 for tobacco. (I have examined the ac- 
counts of some who had chewed up, in this weed, during the season, $20. 
They would prefer being short of food, rather than out of tobacco.) And 
for tea, sugar, soap, candles and sanitary extras, say $5. Total $36. 
Leaving a credit for cash payment of $25 75, on condition that your ci r- 
cular ensures the payment of wages and rations to Dec. 31st. But in the 
Vicksburg Districtr, at any rate, it will not do that, as the plantations are 
all brolien up by the withdi'awal of garrisons from the protecting posts. 
So there is the loss of December wages, $10, leaving the balance due in 
cash of $15 75 — supposing that he has no children or infirm persons de- 
pendent upon him. But suppose he has these ; or, that being unaccustom- 
ed to accounts and untrained to thrift, he has drawn goods carelessly, or, 
bought a ten dollar coat and a five dollar pair of boots — not magnificent, 
indeed, in these days ; but where will he find defense against the severities 
of winter ; or, against the wolf's approach to his door before the end of 
the first unemployed month ? 

Take a woman's wages : 

Cr. 
Ten months work at $7 $70 00 

Dr. 

Loss of time, Saturday afternoons, 1 month. $ 7 00 

" " " Rainy weather, li " 10 50 

Sickness of self and family, time lost 1 month 7 00 

Guerrillas, time lost on account of, i month -.. 3 50 

Odd days for various or no reasons, i month . . _ 3 50 

Total balance of credits. 38 50 

But a woman will require, say two dresses, $8 ; under garments, $5 ; 
two pairs shoes, $5 ; hose, $2 ; handkerchiefs, $1 50 ; hat, $2 ; and she 
will expend $3 for tobacco and snuflF, and call it necessary, as it is her only 



DEPARTMENT OP THE TENNESSEE. 47 

luxury when well, and $3 more for tea, sugar, &c., when she is sick. 
Total Dr. $29 50 of not extravagant expenditure. Total cash balance $9. 
I have set the figures for goods under the average prices, and certainly 
have not overrated the amount of goods required for ten months. If the 
woman be ordinarily well, and have no fi'aud practised on her, and have 
no children, she will get scanty rations, poor shelter and clothes, and nine 
dollars, for her year's work in the cotton field ! But suppose she has a 
child — and black women do have children, what then ? Suppose the rebels 
took oS the first suit of clothing she bought, as they did from many, so 
that she was compelled to buy afresh, what then ? Suppose fraud to have 
been practised toward her ; or, in sickness, her ration charged her ; or, 
that she has been compelled to pay for the rations her children ate, what 
then ? The balance due fi'om the laborer to the employer cannot well be 
collected : that is a mercy ! 

On one place, the manager told me he did not know what to do 
about discharging his hands, they were so much in debt to him, and he 
had not paid them a dime of money ; and was that hour having their quar 
ters searched, in vain, on the pretense that they were killing his sheep. 
They had eaten them up clean, if they had stolen them. 

The answer, then, to question 1st is — Food and clothing as they 
could get it. 

INSTKUCTIOXS TO PROVOST MARSHALS. 

I sincerely trust that your circular to Provost Marshals will correct 
these abuses, compelling planters to recast their accouitts, so as, at any 
rate, to give wages for rainy weather and guerrilla-lost time ; to com- 
mute, in cash, rations withholdcn from dependents ; and to pay wages to 
the end of the year. 

COMMENDABLE LIBERALITY. 

Of course, the showings on different plantations differ widely. 
There are a very few places — not six — on which there has been no loss of 
time except for protracted sickness, the planter, by some generous con- 
struction, having been able to consider each failure to labor justifiable. 
On these the credits will stand, for men $100, and for women $70, dimin- 
ished only by charges for clothing ; leaving for cash payment $64 and $40. 

Mr. G. R. Newman, an old slave owner, has not only given thus 
full time, but has given a suit of summer clothes to each of his hands, at 
an expense of more than $400. Maj. John Lynch has distributed to his 
people, gratuitously, about $700 worth of clothing, and given them full 
time ; and, I will add, has spent time and labor in all ways to assist, and 
protect and encourage the blacks in his neighborhood. Some employers 
have given their faithful hands small plats of land to cultivate, at odd 
hours, for themselves. Some laborers have thus, selling cotton so raised 
to their employers, realized hundreds of dollars beyond their wages. In 
this respect the firm of Ayers and Taylor, of Helena, have been most 
liberal. 



48 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

2. Have you received the amounts promised you from time 
to time ? 

Ans. — No;, and for the best of reasons. First, most of the hands 
were hired on the promise of $35 for men, and $18 for women — finding 
their own rations. On no consultation with them, or consent of theirs, 
that promise was broken by authority above that of the Freedmen De- 
partment. They awoke one day to find tliat the employers' part of 
the contract was broken, but their' s kept whole. Now, they were to get 
$10 for men and $7 for women, with $3 a month commutation of clothing ; 
making $13 and $10. Six planters only held to the former agreement. 
So, per force, they went on at work, for a time, under the new arrange- 
ment ; when, lo ! comes another breach of one side of the contract — the 
employers' — theirs, as valid as ever ! — and the $3 commutation for cloth- 
ing is gone, leaving them to clothe themselves and families out of $10 and 
$7 per month. 

For the rest, I think they have received in clothing the half of their 
monthly earnings, and so the amount finally, by the last order promised. 

Some ten planters refused to take advantage of the last reduction in 
wages, and have paid the promised commutation. 

3. Have you received medical attention and care while 
working the plantations ? 

Ans. — But very little. Sometimes, in severe sickness, the planters 
have hired medical officers from the nearest military posts, but have ordi- 
narily depended upon the medical education of some old black woman, or 
upon the yet inferior experience of the overseer of the plantation. 

A considerable number of medical practitioners were employed, early 
in the season, for the care of districts of plantations. Some half dozen of 
these were captured by guerrillas, and retained as prisoners, or brutally 
murdered. 

4 and 5. Have there been schools, or encouragement to 
attend them, ©n plantations ? 

Ans. — No. On two places I found schools in operation. On three 
there were schools the first of the season. On one a black woman was 
teaching in a small way to the small advantage of any body. On one 
other place, the wife of the manager of the plantation had interested her- 
self, and been very useful in teaching the children of the employees. On 
many — most indeed — schools would have been impossible. On the part 
of the greater number of the planters there does not appear to be any dis- 
position to educate the blacks. 

The above is as good an analysis as I can make of the answers of 
the Freedmen to the questions which you furnished. 

PLANTATIONS, PEOPLE, CKOPS. 

The ninety-five plantations examined embrace 45,745 acres of land, 
said to be cultivated, giving an average of 418 acres to the plantation. 
They have produced about 4,800 bales of cotton, and perhaps 18,000 bush- 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 49 

els of corn. They have giveu labor and support to 8,588 people — about 
00 people to a plantation. About twenty plantations I did not see. From 
some of them I hear good reports. Supposing them to average Mitli those 
examined, we shall have 

Total number of acres on which crops are made, 54,105. 

" bales cotton, 5,910. 

" " " people supported, 10,;>88. 

DEPREDATIONS. 

These one hundred and fifteen plantations, together with fifty-six 
plats of land cultivated by blacks, are what I find remaining of the four 
hundred and fifty leases, more or less, which have been taken for tlie year. 
From tlie ninety-five safest of these plantations, on which cultivation has 
l)een prosecuted for the season, there have ])een taken by the rebels 2,314 
head of serviceable stock, and 9G7 BlaclvS. (I learn that since the break- 
ing up of the Post at Goodrich's and Milliken's, many more have been 
carried off".) Tlie Blacks have been taken back into the interior of the 
States and resold into bondage. The mules have gone directly to the rebel 
service. Beside this plunder, they have carried otf with them how much 
supplies, both in dry-goods and in food, it is impossible to do more than 
conjecture. Nor have I any means of ascertaining the amount of stock 
or the number of hands taken from that greatly larger outljing region, in 
which the phmters have been utterly broken up, and tlieir all lost ; from 
which white and black alike fled for life, leaving behind them all things. 
Nor is it my sphere to recite the horrible details of atrocious murders, per- 
petrated upon both black and white, to which I have been a listener on 
many of these places. They out-do, in brutal ferocity, the barbarities of 
savage warfare. Nor is it possible to know what sums of money, or what 
amounts of goods, have sufficed to keep the marauders froin certain thor- 
oughly exposed but marvelously secure places ; but there has been reast)n 
enough for the vigilance of military officers and commanders. Nor how 
thoroughly profitable it has been to these murderers and robbers, to suff'er 
crops to be raised outside our protection altogether. It is matter of com- 
mon report, that not a few planters have taken measures of one sort or 
another, to get the "good will" of those who could else have broken them 
up. Some have stated the fact to me plainly, and of others it has been 
freely said by their neighbors. 

The above figures concerning land and crops, and stock, and laborers, I 
do not suppose to be accurate. Still I have a good deal of confidence in 
them as approximately correct. The planters have not, as a general thing, 
made their expenses ; and the whole system of plantations is broken up 
by late military movements, except in tlie districts of Helena and Natchez ; 
and the people are, before this, gathered in camps to be cared for by the 
Government. 

BLACK LESSEES. 

Your reports concerning this class will, doubtless, be full from other 
sources. It was in ni)' wa}- to observe them somewhat fully from Vicks- 



60 REPORT OP SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

burg to Helena. Their tracts of land ranged from five acres to one hun- 
dred and fifty. There are many instances in which a family contrives to 
get a good support from five acres, tarmed with the hoe alone. Many of 
these add to their resources by cutting wood. I doubt if any of these 
five acre men have, for months, required or received any aid from the Gov- 
ernment, or will ever require it in the fature ; unless by some great failure 
of administrative wisdom they should be hindered from procuring land. 
How numerous this class of cultivators is I cannot tell. There is a very 
considerable number between the Brown and Johnson place and the 
Young's Point plantation, into whose condition I enquired closely enough 
merely to make the foregoing statements. One old man I found, who had 
himself, with his hoe only, made ten acres of corn, on land newl}^ cleared, 
and so a good year's wages. He had lately married a wife, and wants, 
next year, twenty-five acres ; for, he says with pride, " She's a workin' 
woman, sah!" He ought to have the land. There is no reason why, 
under supervision, this whole bend, from Young's upon the upper side, to 
Brown and Johnson's upon the lower, may not be successfully tilled b}^ 
the blacks, in such a Avay as to remove the support of the people entirely 
from the shoulders of the Government, and to create a very considerable 
revenue ; while the whole labor will be within the limits of an easily se- 
cured safety. The people, too, will be accessible to all moral, religious 
and intellectual instruction. 

In the districts above, the tracts of land occupied by the blacks are 
larger. Of the whole fifty-six of these small agriculturists there is not 
one, whom I have seen, who has not made enough to keep him comforta- 
bly alive through the winter ; while most of them have gotten together 
teams and agricultural implements, and such sums of money as will start 
them upon the next year's work at great advantage. The most successful 
of them all, this year, has been Robert Miner, opposite Miliikeu's Bend. 
He cultivated eighty acres in cotton, making forty bales of that valuable 
fibre, one half bale to the acre, — the best crop I have seen in my whole 
tour. He made, also, forty acres of good corn. In the Helena district a 
number of these men sold their crops, standing, before the worm appear- 
ed — they themselves getting out the crops at certain wages. 

One man sold his forty acres for _ $8,000 

Another " " twenty-four acres for ._ _ 0,000 

" " thirty " 5,000 

" " thirteen " 4,000 

" " twenty-five " .._ 4,000 

Of the rest, most sold their crops in the seed at from 28 to 33 cents 
per pound, and have made, on ten acres, not far from an average of $500, 
beside their support, and about the same, proportionately, on larger tracts. 
Many of them had funds from the industry of last year ; some borrowed 
small sums which, in every instance but one, so far as I could find, have 
been punctually repaid. 

I cannot see that, in any particular, these colored men have been less 
successful than the white planters alongside them. Where they have em- 
ployed hands, there is little, if any, complaint against them, either in the 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 61 

matter of rations, wages, or usage. Having undertaken small and man- 
ageable tracts of land, working them in good part themselves, and em- 
ploying but a small number of hands ; their crops have been more fully- 
worked, and so have produced more bountifully. Some of them, from 
small wood-yards, have made the whole expenses of their enterprize. 
Many of them, during the winter, will be making money in the same way. 
All of these are eager for the privilege of cultivating for themselves 
another year. The worm, of course, has taken the greater portion of 
their expected profits this season. Perhaps, however, they have made as 
much as was best for them, this the second year of their liberty. Here- 
afler, they will be better fitted to manage wisely larger profits. 

One large plantation is leased by a firm — one white and two blacks. 
" It was so nominated in the bond ;" but the blacks have furnished most 
of the capital, and that came near being their profit in it. I do not think 
co-partnerships between white and black men are prudent. 

SMALL FARMS BETTER. 

It will not be wise to lease to these men large tracts of land ; but to 
all such as have proved prudent and trustworthy, such land as themselves 
and families, with at most two or three assistants each, can till. Indeed, 
large tracts of land ought not to be leased to white or black. Planters 1 
have fill over-reached themselves. They have planted great tracts for \ 
abandonment. Tlioy have spread themselves over two, three, thirteen \ 
huge plantations, putting neighbors at a great distance, isolating them- 
selves, making defense impossible ; keeping great, unmanageable, mixed 
t roops of laborers ; massing at isolated and indefensible points scores of 
nmlcs and groat stores of valuable supplies; insomuch that the rebels have 
not been Avilling to break tlie thing up entirely, when they might, for the 
depot of supply it furnished for the mere trouble of riding to it. 

Small tracts of land, necessitating a closely settled population for 
purposes of defense, and dispensing with great stores of supplies for easy 
rebel seizure, is the only way to secure an occupancy of territory, which 
will be of any service. Planters themselves are unanimous in the con- 
viction that they have contributed to their own misfortunes by the too 
magnificent extent of territory they have attempted to cover. 

GARDENS. 

1 1 was designed by the authorities, that small guarden plats should 
be assigned to each family of the laborers. Some of the planters have 
complied with that design. Yet such consideration of the comfort of the 
laborers has availed them little ; as the soldiers of the neighboring garri- 
sons have been deterred, neither by discipline nor principle, from appro- 
]-»riating the entire product of their labor. The same impossibility has 
stood in the way of their raising poultry or pigs ; privileges from which, 
in the olden time, they derived no small advantage. It is doubtful wheth- 
('i\_ont he whole, they have lived more bountifully than on well-managed 
plantations in the past. 



62 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

EDUCATION. 

Ill reference to Educational interests, the plantations are not favora- 
ble. Many of them are so much exposed, that to attempt to locate teach- 
ers upon them would be rashness. Not a few of the planters utterly scout 
the idea of education. The cultivation of plantations is a mere temporaiy, 
speculative venture. The whole spirit ot such operations is flitally oppos- 
ed to these plans for the culture and elevation of the laborers. 

Of religious instruction, they have had none. 

Of moral instruction, with rare exceptions, none. 

Not even the plain and fundamental provisions, which, in all camps 
and towns, have been made for lawful marriage, have been regarded upon 
the farms. 

I cannot find that an}'' general effort has been made for the enlight- 
enment of the people in any direction. In matters of prudence and econ- 
omy, they often have not known the cost of the articles they bought. No 
wise, kind oversight has been had of their household afiPairs or modes of 
life. Of course there are exceptions to these sweeping negations; but no 
class of men, engaged in pushing their fortunes in hazardous ventures of 
this sort, will stop for educational or moral effort among the people. The 
experience of this year will be that of all years. 

LABOK. 

Upon this point the testimonies of the planters are as various as their 
characters, and depend quite as much upon their own, as upon the dispo- 
sition of their employees. For employers, who have succeeded in inspir- 
ing the blacks with confidence in their integrity and humanity, they have 
been Avilling to render faithful service. I do not remember an instance, 
where I have been regaled by tbe planter with complaints of the worth- 
lessness of his hands, in which an examination of his hands did not reveal 
a most thorough lack of confidence in the integrity, or want of respect 
for the capacity, of the planter. 

Of course there are difi"erences in the value of these laborers. Those 
who have been most tossed about from camp to camp are least desirable. 
Those who have come from distant localities, and suffered great hardships 
meanwhile, are peculiarly liable to disease ; are subject to an acclimating 
])rocess ; and so their efficiency as laborers decreased. They have under- 
gone so many breakings-up as to have become unsettled, and, to a consid- 
erable extent, unsteady. The best laborers are, ordinarily, those Avho have 
remained quietly upon their old places, and there render their services, for 
hire, to new employers. Those on farms most remote from camps of sol- 
diers or freed people, are most steady and serviceable. The older are 
likely to be worth more than the younger. Probably the majority of val- 
uable male laborers are above forty-five years of age. The black man 
does not break down to unfitness for labor earlier, at any rate, than the 
white. Among tbe women, the most valuable laborers are from thirty to 
forty-five. I suppose the vices, of their former and of their present con- 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 53 

dition, press more sorely upon the women than upon the men; and upon 
the younger than the middle-aged. 

EFFECTS OP GUERRILLA OPERATIOXS. 

The whole matter of securing efficient labor upon these plantations 
has been confused l)y the perpetual fear, with which the situation has been 
encompassed. There is scarely one of them all which has escaped guer- 
rilla atrocities. The greater proportion of the whole number have been 
entirely and finally broken up ; while upon the remainder every condi- 
tion of contented labor has been broken. On a large number of these 
latter the crops have been cultivated, for months past, by partly or wholly 
new sets of hands — large numbers of the original laborers having been 
taken off. Panics and stampedes have been of continual occurrence. 
People and planters have fled for their lives, often leaving dead and cap- 
lives behind them. Actual or apprehended attacks have deterred from 
labor for days and even weeks together ; and kept the lessees themselves 
inside of fortified places for long intervals, in which they dared not show 
their faces upon their plantations. Many lessees have been captured — not 
a few murdered with all the circumstances of fiendish cruelty. The won- 
der is that the whole labor of these guerrilla-hifested regions has not be- 
come demoralized and entirely worthles*s. My inspection took me to sev- 
eral places on which no stock had been kept for months, and over which 
roamed, at will, parties of from three to fifty of these marauders. One 
morning as I was riding to the York & Fletcher place, opposite Natchez, 
1 met the body of Mr. Knight, pierced by ten balls, who was murdered 
the night before, on the place this side of that. Two other whites and 
one black beside were killed. A little further on we met the wounded 
l)la('ks l)cing brought in. One old man of seventy winters, with white hair 
and beard, and ghastly with blood, bore patiently three severe wounds. 

Not unfrequently as we approached, on horseback, the negro quar- 
ters, we caught sight of the blacks scattering to the weeds like frightened 
hares — so timid have they become on these haunted grounds. 

SEVERITY AND OLD OVERSEERS. 

Many planters have considered that a course of severity was neces- 
sary to secure labor. Looking for "experience" in the management of 
l)la('ks, and in the making of cotton, some of them have employed, as they 
should not, on any terms, have been allowed to do, old overseers. Many 
of these, in manners and morals, in their words and acts, have showed a 
thorough itching after, and an uncomfortable tendency toward, the old 
system. The lash has not been used in any case ; blows, and kicks, and 
cuffs are not as uncommon as could be desired. There are but few of 
these overseers who know anything of the black, except as he cowers 
under the lash,— a thing owned and driven like an ox. Out of that condi- 
tion they misunderstand him fatall}^ 

gAs to the making of cotton, that has not been the overseer's sphere. 



64 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

He is to "manage the niggers." The crop and the making of it is better 
understood by the more intelligent of the latter than by him. 

The old slave overseer ought to be laid aside. He is an appendage free- 
dom abhors ; he and all his manners. On most of the plantations a plan 
of roughness and harshness of manner has been purposely adopted, which 
will not be tolerated at all by laborers who have come into the full con- 
ception that they are free. The shallow mistake is made — that, too, by 
very sensible men, that this harsh, insulting manner carries with it some 
efficiency of a real authority. The mistake is gross. No people detect so 
infallibly the reality of a white man, under all his shows, as do these. The 
weight and dignity of a real authority has been vastly lessened, while the 
respect of the black man for himself and for us has been sadly weakened 
by it. A judicious plan of rewards and kindness has worked better, where 
it has been tried, than this weak show of tyranny and roughness. Confi- 
dence and respect will inspire labor. Some employers have so won that, 
that their people have chosen to leave their money in their hands to the 
end of the year, and have done them good work in spite of manifold 
discouragements. 

MILITARY OVERSIGHT NEEDFUL. 

Yet no one thing is made clearer, by the observation of many groups 
of laborers, than this : that the more constant oversight of a real authority 
is needful, both for the protection of the planter and that of the black. 
Dering the year now closing the provost marshals have been too few. Had 
half the places leased been continued under cultivation, it would have been 
impossible for the officers, charged with the protection and government of 
the laborers, to reach them effectually. Even with the work circumscribed 
by the operations of the guerrillas, the necessary amount of care could not 
be extended to the remaining places. 

The complaints arising between planter and laborer are endless. The 
laborer is accused as lazy, as vicious, as impudent, as thievish or a liar, as 
quarrelsome, as a breeder of discontent. The planter is accused of keep- 
ing false time, overcharging for goods, giving short rations, refusing to 
feed dependents, neglecting the sick, severity, insults and blows. Half 
these complaints, on both sides, would be prevented by the knowledge 
that, if made, some competent authority would at once seek for their 
foundation, and apply the remedy. 

Half the real causes of complaint would never occur, were the author- 
ity for appropriate correction at hand. In the absence of possible civil 
authority, the military authority must be very easily accessible, for the 
protection of the planter and his interests, by the removal or punishment 
of those who, fed, insist on being idle ; those who are breeders of vice and 
discontent ; and who commit offences against good order or good morals. 
The exercise of this authority is as essential to the education of the black, 
as to the protection of the planter. On the other hand, the protection and 
content of the laborer requires that this authority be constantly present, 
to enforce the issue of proper rations, the support of the dependent, the 
care of the sick, the keeping of true accounts of time and of goods, the 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 55 

punctual payment of wages, and the correction of every abuse practised 
upon the laborer by his employer. The presence of military authority, in 
the person of a militarj^ Provost J.Iarshal, is needed every week, on every 
plantation, both by planter and laborer ; and the bare presence of such au- 
thority would accomplish most of the required results. Not only is the 
necessity evident to an observer, but felt and asserted, with entire unanwi- 
%, t)y both black and white. Some of the most intelligent of the planters 
have insisted, urgently, that if the}' cultivate next j^ear, they will gladlj' 
pay the expense of an officer, and his guard of four or six mounted men, 
for every six to ten plantations — he being required to visit each plantation 
at least once in each week, and hear and adjust all complaints. I think 
this would be the unanimous wish of all who have worked lands this j^ear ; 
and certainly this is the crying need of the whole throng of laborers. For 
the prevention of injustice to them, they too could well afford to bear all 
the expense of this administration of justice. This year, the universal 
complaint is that the Provost Marshal districts have been too large, and 
the duty of the officers too much complicated with other atfairs ; so that 
neither of the interested parties could get easy access to him. His office 
sliould be in the saddle, and his court, the gallery of each plantation-house ; 
while his guards should be at hand to enable him to execute his awards. 

SETTLEMENTS AND MEDICAL ATTENDANCE. 

The final settlements for this year, in accordance with your circular, 
are a matter of great importance, involving much labor of the Provost 
Marshal sort. The proper care of the sick, and charge of sanitary afl^airs, 
requires that each Provost Marshal District should have a Medical othcer, 
who should be in control of all sanitary affairs on the plantations ; who 
sliould use his authority, as in the military service, to carry out and com- 
pel tlie observance of his sanitary regulations, both by planter and labor- 
(;r. This year it has been impossible for the plantations to reach medical 
assistance ; and the planters have had no authority to keep the quarters or 
the persons of their laborers in good sanitary condition. As a conse- 
quence, great numbers have died. I have been on plantations where near- 
ly half the people have died. The small-pox has prevailed very extensive- 
ly. On one plantation, where about one hundred and twenty people were 
employed, there were forty-seven deaths previously to November 15th. 
Thirty-three of these were fifteen years or under ; seven, sixty years or 
over; and seven, between fifteen and sixty. 

Had my time been adequate, I would gladly have taken statistics 
upon these matters, but could not. I have merely made such observations 
and enquiries as my other objects permitted. 

WAGES. 

The compensation of labor is of capital importance in any view of 
the plantation system. My opinions, with reference to the plan of negroes 
jiurchasing their own supplies, have been completely changed by the ob- 
servations made in these places. There were two reasons for thinking it 



56 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

unwise to require tlie black to purchase his supphes : — 1st. The opportu- 
nity it gave the white to steal from the black by overcharges, 2. The in- 
ducement it offered the black to steal from all colors, to reduce the expen- 
ses of living. But the chance for cheating in a book account is not one- 
tenth as great as in the issue of rations to the hands each w^eek. By this 
plan, the laborer gets what he wants, and has a direct object in economy 
and the use of his spare hours in productive industry. When food is a 
part of the hire, then just that much of the wages is made every idle da}^ ; 
which is unjust to the planter, and unfortunate to the black. Let his wages 
depend entirely on his work. Employers and laborers are alike decided 
and unanimous in their conviction in tavor of this plan of supplies, with 
a corresponding increase of rate of compensation. The same desires are 
held in reference to supply of clothing. The proper supervision will ob- 
viate all difficulties. The employers should be required to furnish ail 
needed supplies at cost, on plantation, letting their only profit from tlie 
laborer be his labor. 

CHANGE OF RATES OF AYAGES. 

In February, authority in Frcedmen's affairs passed from the Trea- 
sury Department into military hands, but not into control of the Freed- 
men Department. The plantation system had gone too far to be with- 
drawn. New regulations were adopted — better, in many respects, and 
safer than the former ; but making a change of wages. The new rates 
were $13 and $10 per month, and rations provided. It was hardly to be 
expected that the black would see the propriety of this change. But he 
had no remedy. Presently comes another change of terms. Three dol- 
lars per month are stricken from these rates, leaving the laborers to pro- 
vide clothing from their earnings of $10 and $7 per month. About the 
equity of these two changes the blacks are still in doubt. 

At the time of these changes, labor was frantically sought in all di- 
rections. Visions of fortunes were floating before all planters' eyes. The 
only trouble was scarcity of laborers. A quarter of a million of acres, 
more or less, are waiting to sprout fortunes under every stroke of the hoe. 
Planters would have paid forty and fifty dollars per month rather than 
not have had the hands. All men seemed mad. Guerrillas were a light 
matter ; uncertainty of protection, nothing. Cotton seed and land to scat- 
ter it on, and blacks to gather in the golden fibre — and lo ! Golconda ! 
Planters were demanding, at the doors of every military office, that labor- 
ers should be driven, by force of steel or hunger, to their plantations. Then, 
too, the black man was the only one in wdiom was left a shred of reasona- 
ble prudence. He knew they wished to take him to regions, where neither 
liberty nor life were safe an hour ; and was unwilling to take such perils 
for such reward. It is strange that where really involuntary labor, in 
peril of liberty aud life, was so clamorously sought and confidently look- 
ed to as the certainty of dazzling fortunes to the speculators, wages were 
placed at what was a bare equivalent for food, clothes, and shelter. The 
fears of the blacks have been more than realized. The meanest show of 
all, is the evident endeavor of many of these adventurers, when the golden 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. • 57 

(lieaiii was past, by every small economy to make the black laborer bear 
a heavy part of their losses. 

It is sincerely to be hoped that, hereafter, labor may compete in the 
open market ; that demand and supply shall regulate prices ; and that lib- 
erality and justice, practised this year, may have the due advantage of their 
good repute among the laborers. 

UNIFORM RATE OF AVAGE:^ IJXJUST. 



No uniform rate of wages is just. If supplies are furnished laborers 
and dependents, above the fixed rate, why then, the man with many de- 
pendants receives much more than he who has none. It is not just, that 
a man faithful, diligent, and efficient, should have no advantage over 
another who is w^orthless. Wages "ad valorem" must be the law. 



PLANTING NEXT YEAR. 

Any planting system next j'cai', must be of small extent and import- 
ance. No sane man w'ill lease again in tlie regions wdiich have been 
abandoned this year. Yet to-day there are not fifty plantations, from 
Natchez to Columbus, on which any planter can stay himself, or retain or 
feed a laborer. But the little safe land inside, or close to military lines, 
must not be leased from underneath the feet of the blacks. Such a plan 
would give employment to a few blacks, leaving the mass of them on the 
hands of the Government still. The possible extent of the scheme is too 
narrow to make it a matter of any considerable importance to the Gov- 
ernment. 

WHO SHOULD BI ALLOWED TO LEASE? 



Who should be allowed leases? Plainly no one of that carpmg 
grumbling throng of men, who have filled the air about every military 
officer's ears with the buzz of their curses; wdio have "waited," and 
''remonstrated," and "petitioned," and "appealed," and "protested" against 
the necessary stringency of military rules ; and would have had all mili- 
tary operations devoted to the safety of their plantations and the making 
of their private fortunes; and who are angry with military authorities be-, 
cause they must have permits for goods to go outside the lines, and must 
have passes to get through the lines, and all that class of senseless nui- 
sances. Not one of those who have secured the safety of their plantations 
by "understandings," and "interests," and "bonuses," with and to guerril- 
las, should touch an acre of land again. No man wdio has dealt unjustly 
in rations, in w^ages, in the keeping of time, or in tlie personal usage of 
their hands, should touch them again. No man, who sums up the result 
^>f his year's experience with the blacks in this too common formula — 
"Damn the nigger," should have the opportunity to get further experience 

of them. 

8 



68 ' REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

Pardon the extreme length of this report. Brevity is a rare, and, in 
this case, a very diflflcult attainment. 

Very Respe(;tfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

A. SEVERANCE FISK, 
Assistant in Charge of Freedmen. 

ANSWERS OF SUPERINTENDENTS AND PROVOST MARSHALS. 

Planters and Freedmen have both been constantly under the 
observation of Superintendents and Provost Marshals, a synopsis 
of Avhose opinions is here given — that of Col. Thomas being 
made the basis. When differences occur between it and others, 
they are stated. 

1. What is your opinion of tlie quality, the variety and 
amount of food furnished by lessees, &c., as far as your observa- 
tion has extended ? 

The amount has generally been sufficient, but the quality and va- 
riety have not been what they should. 

Natchez : [Col. Mitchell, Superintendent and Provost Marshal :] In- 
sufficient in quantity, and inferior in quality on about half the plantations. 

Arkansas: [Maj. W. G. Sargent, Superintendent:] The quality has 
generally been good, in variety coming near the Government rations for 
soldiers, and sufficient in quantity. 

2. How far have justice and kindness prevailed in the treat- 
ment of the negroes by their employers ? 

Col. Thomas : — Just as far as they would assist the planters and 
making larger crops, and keep them out of trouble with the authorities. 
There are some honorable exceptions to this mean average. 

Lieut. Col. Mitchell : — Same as above. 

Major Sargent : — So far as this question applies to planters, justice 
and kindness have marked their conduct, except in a few instances ; but 
when applied to citizen residents of the State of Arkansas, the rule is un- 
fortunately somewhat ditferent ; still there are cases where these are kind 
and considerate. 

3. How far have such traits been manifested by furnishing 
Sanitary stores to the sick and feeble ; by a liberal construc- 
tion of contracts or the revei'se ; by continuing rations to the 
sick; and by extending them to the dependent and helpless? 

Col. Thomas: — In some cases sanitary stores have been furnished, 
and good care taken of the sick. None have given their contracts a lil)- 
eral construction, and but few have treated their hands as they should 
have done. 

Lieut. Col. Mitchell : — No sanitarj^ stores have been furnished, ex- 
cept in a very few cases. 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 59 

Major Sargent : — Generally the planters have construed their con- 
tracts liberally ; and in many instances given extra wages and clothing as 
incentives to industry ; and manifested kindness towards the sick, depen- 
dent and helpless. 

4. What do you think of the quality and amount of cloth- 
ing furnished ? 

'' Col. Thomas : — The people could get all they wanted, if they paid 
for it. This was the construction the planters put on the order. 

5. What disposition to speculate on the necessities of the 
people have you observed? 

Col. Thomas : — But little disposition of this sort manifested. As, 
practically, the planter has got the work of the negro for his board and 
clothes, but little wool was left for the most expert shearer. 

Lieut. Col. Mitchell. — Such a disposition has been manifested in a 
few instances. 

Maj. Sargent : — A disposition to make gains has been clearly mani- 
fested ; yet the natural cupidity of employers has been restrained by the 
presence and authority of military power. 

6. Suggest any plan for improving the condition of the 
people, in this respect, hereafter. 

Col. Thomas : — Classify according to capacity and willingness to la- 
bor ; fix a minimum price for each class ; pay full wages, and supply the 
Freedmen, at cost, with everything they need. 

Lieut. Col. Mitchell : — Print a short system of rules for the govern- 
ment of lessees and hands. Allow no traffic unless approved by the Pro- 
vost Marshal of Freedmen. 

Maj. Sargeant: — A strict classification of labor; fix the rate of 
wages ; and supply them with necessary goods at a fair per cent, above 
cost ; reserving the profit as a fund to relieve the necessitous. 

1. Have the people been le^ to invest much in trifles ? 
Col. Thomas : — They have nojK 

8. ITow severely have the people been tasked with labor ? 
Worked how many hours per day ? How many days per week ? 

(\)1. Thomas : — No complaints can be made against the planters in 
this thing. The Freedmen regulated the matter to suit themselvs, and 
quit work when they thought they had done as much as they ought. 

Lieut. Col. Mitchell : — The people have worked, on an average, eight 
liours per day, five days in the week. 

Maj. Sargent: — The Freedmen have not complained of over-work. 
They, usually, on plantations, have Saturday afternoons to themselves. 

9. Has labor been exacted on rainy or stormy days ? 
Col. Thomas : — It has not. 

10. Have Planters succeeded in developing industry ? • 



60 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

Col. Thomas: — No. Freedmeii have worked well, but not better 
than slaves used to work. Indeperulent labor on plantations, in wood- 
yards and in cities, has done more to develop industry than any other 
kind. 

Lt. Col. Mitchell : — Same as above. 

Maj. Sargent : — In a much greater degree than might have been sup- 
posed, when we consider that their notions of liberty were, rest from la- 
bor, and comparative idleness. 

11. If so, by what methods, and to what extent? 

Col. Thomas : — Freedmen have been worked about as they always 
were ; but not with the old inhumanity and cruelty. 

Lt. Col. Mitchell : — Same as above. 

Major Sargeant : — By the authority vested in us, as Superintendents, 
to compel the able bodied to labor ; the motive of compensation ; the hon- 
or at stake of fulfilling their contracts ; and the incentive of a bonus and 
extra compensation offered by planters. 

12. Compare the practical results of Freedom and Sla- 
very. 

Col. Thomas : — See ans. to Ques. 23. 

Lt. Col. Mitchell : — The circumstances surrounding labor have not af- 
forded a fair result, or sufficient data for comparison. 
Maj. Sargent: — No answer. 

13. What wages have been paid, and how? 

Col. Thomas : — Generally, in accordance with Orders No. 9. 
Lt. Col. Mitchell: — Since the season for cotton picking opended, 
hands have been paid by the 100 pounds, receiving from 40 to 75 cts. 
Maj. Sargent : — Generally, in accordance with Orders 9. 

14 and 15, Recommend any judicious plan of compensa- 
tion, and compare any of the plans already adopted and propo- 
sed. 

Col. Thomas : — As set forth in answer to Question 6, preferable. 
Lt. Col. Mitchell : — Can recommend no improvements, except to al- 
low the negroes to make their own bargains in regard to wages. 
Maj. Sargent: — No answer. 

16. What Medical attention have the people received? 

Col. Tlionas : — Very little indeed — only in extreme cases. 

Lt. Col. Mitchell : — A supply of medicines is usually kept on the plan- 
tations, and in some cases administered by the overseer ; sometimes by a 
"doctor woman," who devotes her time to this. Regular physicians have 
seldom been employed. 

Major Sargent : — Medicines have been furnished by Government, 
and attendance given by Hospital stewards in some localities ; though in 
the main, a sad deficiency has occurred in suppljdng the wants of these 
people in this particular. 

17. What success or neglect of schools have you noticed ? 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 61 

Col. Thomas : — Schools have been neglected on Plantations. It has 
been almost impossible to keep them, and no effort has been made to 
do so. 

Lt. Col. Mitchell : — Schools have been kept on two plantations in this 
District. 

Maj. Sargent : — Schools have been successfully inaugurated in towns 
and near wood-3^ards ; but entirely neglected on plantations, save iu one 
or two instances. 

18. What improvement in their domestic relations have 
you seen, and what credit do you give the lessee for any you 
have observed? 

Col. Thomas : — They have improved in their domestic relations as 
they have a natural [desire to do. Planters have not done what they 
ought, to assist in this respect ; but have used their influnce in some de- 
gree on the side of truth and right. 

Lt. Col. Mitchell : — Same as above. 

Maj. Sargent : — A marked improvement. The lessee, perhaps, is en- 
titled to very little of the credit ; for it is attributable to ^the 'Freedman's 
own desire for such improvement. 

19. What increasing regard for truth and the rights of 
property do you observe ? 

Col. Thomas : — An improvement. The fact that each one now pos- 
sesses something of his own, makes him careful to guard what he has ; 
and disinclines him from stealing from others, and gives rise to mutual 
agreements on this subject. Again, the abolishment of the degrading and 
inhuman punishments, once so prevalent, has removed one great cause of 
untruth. The influence of teachers, in localities where those laborers can 
be found, has tended to improve their morals as well as their minds. 

Lt. Col. Mitchell :— No answer. 

Maj. Sargent : — Much improvement. The rights of property are re- 
garded, and few cases appear before our Freedmen's Judicial Tribunals, 
based upon violations in this particular. 

20. What progress do you see in their disposition to labor 
steadily ; to remain at home ; and to be quiet ? 

Col. Thomas : — But little change can be noticed in these particulars. 
An independent com'se of thinking does not tend to make people steadily 
industrious, continuers at home or quiet citizens, when they see that the 
rules and regulations for their guidance, which they had no part in ma- 
king, arc not as beneficent as they should be. 

Lt. Col. Mitchell : — There seems to be some improvement, though 
it is not general. 

Maj. Sargent : — They have, in all branches of the Government ; with 
citizens ; with officers ; and with lessees, labored steadily and quietly. 

21. Are MiHtary orgarizations and instrumentalities neces- 
sary, in the present disturbed state of the country, to secure the 
bests interests both of the negro and his employer ? 



62 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

Col. Thomas : — Absolutely and vitally necessary. 

Lt. Col. Mitchell : — Same as above. 

Maj. Sargent: — Absolutely necessary. More complaints have been 
made by lessees for lack of Military organizations to protect them, than 
from all other sources together. Indeed, most of the lessees seemed to ex- 
pect that the whole Military strength of the Government would be useful 
for their own benefit. 

22. Should men, who have cruelly mistreated their labor- 
ers, be permitted to lease lands of the Government ? 

Col. Thomas : — Certainly not. 

Lt. Col. Mitchell : — Same as above. 

Maj. Sargent : — They should not. 

23. State any facts which shew the progress of the Freed- 
men ; that display the best means of their improvement and ele- 
vation, and the utiHty of this Department in achieving this ob- 
ject. 

[Col. Thomas,*and Major Sargent, give 'no specific answer to this 
Question, but refer to the general tenor of their reports which have been 
so fully quoted here.] 

Lt. Col. Mitchell : — Aff"airs have been very much disorganized in this 
district ; out of the twenty -five plantations leased in one parish, all but 
two have been raided, some of them repeatedly; working stock, clothing, 
bedding, everything portable carried away, and the rest destroyed. Many 
lessees have been made prisoners by the guerrillas, and two have been 
killed. Many negroes, too, have been driven ofi'. Forty-four were taken 
at one time, from a single plantation, and have not been heard from since. 
Owing to these flicts, but little chance has existed to test these questions. 
Among the evils that deserve notice and demand a remedy, are — the neg- 
lect of the lessees to furnish proper and sufiicient food to the hands, and 
care and medicines for the sick. There seems to be a general and well- 
founded complaint in these respects. The looseness with which accounts 
are kept between employers and laborers, gives the latter no power to de- 
tect fraud or imposition. This too requires attention. 

PROVOST MARSHAL SYSTEM. 

The following, from Col. Thomas' Report, will show the 
working of the Provost Marshal system : 

By the provisions of Orders No. 9, Assistant Provost Marshals were 
to be appointed to enforce its execution. They were promptly appoint- 
ed, and entered upon their duties without precedents to guide them. It is 
not, therefore, astonishing that, in discharging their duties, they often 
made mistakes ; and some may have been influenced in their decisions by 
favors from Planters. Their instructions were to have all the parties to a 
case notified, so that all the evidence might be brought forward, and just 
conclusions formed. Many cases have been referred to me for investiga- 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 63 

tion, when the Assistant Provost Marshal felt that he was not competent 
to decide them. 

" Planters were prone to bring frivolous cases before the Provost 
Marshals ; as for instance, that a negro M'as late in getting to work ; and 
thus sought to throw little details of government upon their hands. It 
was difficult to see what to do with such cases, except to dismiss them in 
order to attend to more serious afltiirs ; and then the planters accused the 
officers of inefficiency. 

" The complaints demanding most attention were those of abuse made 
by Freedmen. Planters had often to be reminded, that they were not work- 
ing slaves, and that abuses of this kind could not be tolerated. Questions 
of pay, time worked, and other points came up, arising out of ditfereut 
constructions of Orders 9. The Provost Marshals are kept busy, riding 
from place to place, examining books and bills, and gathering information 
for an honest settlement of Freedmen's affairs. 

" Several Provost Marshals have been removed for failure in duty, 
or from suspicions of taking bribes. Every effort has been made to ren- 
der them efficient ; and those who complain of any inefficiency, whether 
tliey are employer or employee, should remember the large extent of 
country under one man's control, and the hundreds of people that requir- 
ed his attention. The records of their offices attest their industry." 

ARKAXSAS INSPECTION. 

Tlie information from Arkansas has so far been presented in 
merely fragmentary quotations from Major Sargent's Re[)orts, 
nnd tliose of his assistants. A more detailed statement is found 
in tlie following report of Lt. Col. Eaton, 69th U. S. C. I., who 
was ordered to make a rigid inspection of the posts in that State. 
He has gone over the whole field with great care, at all of the in- 
terior points. The inspection at Helena was less thorough, on 
account of the lateness of his arrival. 

He has penetrated not only the facts, but the philosophy 
tliey suggest. His report is given entire. Special attention w ill 
be attracted by his remarks upon the self-support of the blacks, 
their disposition to labor, &c., compared with poor whites. On 
this point it may be remarked, that more whites than blacks are 
now fed by the Government at Memphis. It will also be noticed 
that there seems to be a great difierence of character in favor of 
lessees in Arkansas, compared with those near Vicksburg and 
Natchez ; as well as greater security of plantations, less loss of 
lives among laborers, and of mules and supplies among tlie plan- 
ters; resulting from the fact that the fanciful, or otherwise unpracti- 
cal schemes, which obtained sostrongan influence at other points, 
took less hold there. Plantations were leased more nearly within 



64 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

the limits suggested by military advice, and the freedmen were 
treated more strictly as required by my officers. Of the 11,363 
freedmen reported in the working season, only 985 were drawing- 
rations. Even these were doing work more than sufficient for then- 
own support; and had not the ravages of the worm taken place, 
a very large protit would have l)een derived from their labor. 

Little Rock, Arkansas, 
December 17, 1804. 
Lieut. John F. Perry, 

Adjutant Freedmen's Department. 
Lieutenant, — In compliance with the order of Col. John Eaton, Jr., 
General Superintendent of Freedmen, appointing me Inspector of Freed- 
men for the State of Arkansas, I have the honor to submit the following- 
report : — 

ACCOUNTS. 

In looking over the books of the Superintendents of Freedmen in 
this State, I find the accounts kept with apparent honesty and accuracy ; 
but not, excepting those of the State Superintendent, with that neat order 
and completeness, and with all items substantiated b}^ such voucliers as 
the Army Regulations and the instructions of the General Superinten- 
dent require. When each superior, as is proposed, demands of his sub- 
ordinates, in monthly settlements, a duplicate of the voucher for each re- 
ceipt or disbursement, the safety of these officers, as well as the good of 
the service, will be enhanced. 

quaetbrmaster's returns. 

Beside money belonging to the Freedmen's Department, a large 
amount of Quartermaster's stores passes through the hands of these offi- 
cers ; but some forget that they are held responsible, like other officers, to 
the Quartermaster General, and fail to make the proper returns. 

OFFICIAL RECORDS. 

Nor are the records of orders given and received, of contracts and 
passes, of complaints with the witnesses and findings, and of official let- 
ters and papers with their endorsements and answers, as complete as is 
desirable. Blank books, suitably ruled, are needed for this purpose. 

PASSES. 

There is great want of uniformity in passes. The blanks vary in 
form. At Helena they are given only to those wishing to go in and out 
of the lines. At the other posts all are required to obtain them ; but there 
are no regular patrols to enforce the orders. They are eagerly sought for 
by the men, as they secure them from conscription and disturbance. 
Many of the women have obtained them ; but not being interfered with 
except on special complaints, as many more have neglected to do so. The 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 65 

necessity of correct information in regard to the avocations of all, that 
the Superintendents may be enabled to check vagrancy and corruption, 
and the unduly crowding of any particular business, is too apparent, to 
one conversant with the life of these people in cities, to need comment. 

By reason of these deficiences any estimate of the number of Freed- 
men, who enjoy the protection of this Supervision, by the number of pas- 
ses, is far below the actual census. 

Excepting at Helena the pass for the emploj^ee has been obtained by 
the employer, and has answered for the contract of hire. And, rightly, 
the acceptance of labor should ensure reasonable wages ; and while the 
conditions on which the labor of Freedmen may be obtained are accsssible 
to all, the pass would appear to be sufficient without greater formality. 
The only security of pay and suitable treatment, by either formal contract 
or pass, is the efficiency of this Supervision. The simplest form would, 
therefore, seem preferable. 

Large numbers, beyond the lines, have been regularly hired. Some 
planters have come in forty miles to obtain passes, and thereby secure 
their hands and their crops. The adoption of compensated labor any- 
where is gratifying ; but the danger of the products of such labor falling 
to the enemy, and the urgent demand for more labor at every post in the 
State, make it desirable that as many as possible should be brought in. 
Although the value to the enemy of cribs full of corn and stacks of forage 
is duly appreciated by our officers, the importance of the laborer who 
makes all these is comparatively unnoticed. It must strike every one, 
that the most serviceable foraging is that Avhich not only deprives the en- 
emy of the present crop, but disables him for making any surplus in 
future. 

I would respectfully suggest, that all blanks for passes be issued 
from the general office ; that a reference to the number of each previous 
pass be made, so that the whereabouts of each person at any time maj'^ be 
ascertained ; and that those to go beyond the lines be more carefully 
registered. 

CONDUCT OF EMPLOYERS. 

It has been difficult for late masters and mistresses to recognize the 
equality of themselves and their former slaves before martial law. Many 
outrages Avere perpetrated upon their persons and property after the occu- 
pancy of these posts by our troops. Little attention was paid to the 
negro. But through the necessity and profit of his labor to citizens, the 
large demand by the army, and the consequent scarcity, and above all the 
speedy redress obtained through this Supervision, the rights of the blacks 
have become well-nigh as secure as those of the whites. At some posts, 
where this Supervision is not interfered with, they obtain justice with 
far less dela}^ 

A few planters of the old regime have in good faith embraced the 
new order of things. But the great majority of them acquiesce only 
through compulsion ; and, as they hope their subjugation will be but tem- 
porary', they are at pains to retain their former slaves as near them and as 



^6 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

much within tlieir knowledge as possible. These have naturally exchang- 
ed curses and punishments for entreaties and cajolery, and tii'ades against 
the restraints of lawful freedom. 

The planters from the north, with few exceptions, have treated their 
laborers with marked fairness, and often with generosity. Many of them 
were disabled officers and soldiers from our army. 

Refractory and indolent laborers have been turned over to the Super- 
intendents ; and there has been scarcely an attempt at any kind of pun- 
ishment, much less the cruel and unusual. The moral influence of mili- 
tary power backing all reasonable demands of the planters, as shown by 
these occasional examples of offenders, has been most happy and effectual. 
It is the testimony of nearly all planters, whether southern or nor- 
thern, that they could not have expected any set of laborers to work bet- 
ter than theirs. They have, in some cases, returned to their work after 
being repeatedly driven away by guerrillas, and when no white dared to 
go near. There are a few instances, where they have been furnished arms, 
of their repulsing these marauders. It is to be remarked too, very credita- 
bly to the negro, that those who have cared most for the interest of their la- 
borers, have been rewarded by the greatest cheerfulness and the heartiest 
good will. The sullenness of the old regime has disappeared. A won- 
derfully keen scent for ^the direction of their interests already charac- 
terizes this once stolid race. They have discovered an alacrity, a faith- 
fulness and an honor — not by any means to a degree that is to be hoped 
for — yet sufficient to compel the acknowledgement of those who declared 
that freedom would make this people nothing but thieving and licentious 
vagabonds. 

WAGES. 

The wages announced in the Treasury Regulations, and approved by 
Gen. Thomas, have been the lowest paid. The change allowed by subse- 
quent orders was adopted by but few outside of Helena. The regulation 
of wages by age or strength alone has been found unjust, and would be 
little regarded by a planter in hiring his laborers again. 

During the cotton-picking season, nearly all were paid by the pound, 
and earned from one to seven dollars per day. Many have been allowed 
a third or half of the crop, and have realized, though the season was poor, 
handsome profits. Among them are not a few of remarkable judgment 
and force of character, who have been engaged at their own prices as 
foremen. The earnings of those in the cities have largely exceeded those 
on the plantations. The planters say that they are indifferent to the rates 
of pay, if they can obtain the laborers. Considering the enormous in- 
come from an ordinary crop, and the scarcity of labor, the wages which 
have been, for the most part, the minimum in orders, is far too small. If 
employers were allowed to put in bids with their request for hands, to the 
Post Superintendents, and the people enabled to take advantage of the 
highest offers, greater fairness and a considerable advance would be ob- 
tained. Those who bear the heat and burden of the fields deserve the 
larger share of the gains. 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 67 

SHORT SETTLEMENTS. 

The rights of the blacks, in person and property, have been so long 
outraged by the whites, that they are exceedingly distrustful. Only by 
frequent and regular settlements will their pay have its full stimulus to 
exertion. Those planters who, through the cotton-picking season, met 
the dues of their laborers promptly every week, accomplished a third 
more than those who paid irregularly. 

The Government would not be burdened with the sick and help- 
less more than at present if planters were required to take their hands by 
the year, and settle by the month ; while the negro would do more work 
with greater confidence, and deserve better pay. If any stoppage was to 
be made for loss of time through sickness, it could be more satisfactorily 
adjusted. And a proper account in this way could be as readily inspected 
and audited by the Superintendents, at the close of the year, as any other. 
The oftener they can safely exercise their judgment in saving or spending 
their pay, the sooner they will be fitted for independent transactions. 

FOOD AND CLOTHING. 

To this end they should receive their wages in full ; and the ma- 
terials for food and clothing should be furnished at reasonable prices, and 
conveniently, so that they may purchase for themselves. Rations, ex- 
cepting in a few instances, where they have been regularly dealt out, have 
been kept in this way at the plantations. Clothing has also been furnish- 
ed at some ; but elsewhere than at Helena they have, for the most part, 
depended for this upon the stores kept in town by Goverment agents. An 
immense saving in food is effected ; and tiiere are provided responsible 
persons, ■^'ithout inducement to cajole them to squander their money, with 
whom they can take their first lessons in trading with safet}^ All unite in 
saying, that without protection from frauds in change and exorbitant 
prices, they would scarce be able to clothe themselves. Especially is this 
true of the more distant posts ; as Pine Bluff. At this place, while do- 
mestics were selling in town at $1 25 per yard, the same quality and 
width could be obtained at the Freedmen's Store at sixt}'- cents. At Little 
Rock so large was the trade of the blacks, that these stores benefited the 
whites as well, by lowering, throughout the city, the demands of the tra- 
ders. Durable material, for necessary articles, is offered at these stores, 
rather than fashionable and gaudy trash. 

IMPROVEMENT IN TASTE. 

The good taste and practical sense of the negroes, as discovered in 
their purchases, though not by any means unexceptionable, would surprise 
a stranger. They scout the wild and gorgeous colors they once preferred 
You would scarce anywhere find a house full of day laborers so well and 
neatly clad as of a Sunday at the Colored Churches at Little Rock. The 
gay extravagance of the blacks is often animadverted upon ; but it only 
appears in a respectful notice of the Sabbath. On Monday those who 
were dressed as though their income were thousands, appear in homely 



68 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

suits, becoming their avocations. Their fine clothes are therefore not 
expensive. 

No complaints of the quantit}'- or qualit}'^ of food have been heard 
of, with the exception of a few cases at Helena, which have been reported 
by Major Sargent, the State Superintendent. 

HOUSES. 

At the plantations they have occupied the old quarters. In the 
town they have built log houses by hundreds, which form little villages. 
In Little Rock there are several of these. One is known as "Lickskillet ;" 
and another as "Brownsville." The houses are not arranged in streets, 
and seem to have grown up in their places as indifferently as mushrooms. 
Their roofing is of shakes. Most have floors, but boards cannot be ob- 
tained without great diflaculty. Few have any windows. They are com- 
fortable ; and although not as good as they will soon be able to build, they 
are fair specimens of the dwellings of a large share of the white people in 
Arkansas. At Helena boards are plentier, and the houses of those in the 
town are better than elsewhere. 

As will be inferred, the attention of Superintendents is needed to 
prevent irregularity. Indeed no houses should be located without his con- 
sent. Many are furnished with abundance and kept with neatness. But 
an occasional inspection is needed by many more, to quicken their pride 
and elevate their taste. 

SCHOOLS. 

The planters hired laborers with as few children as possible. The 
number on each plantation did not, therefore, seem to warrant separate 
schools ; and the combination of those so far apart seemed equally im- 
practicable. No schools of this sort are reported. But in the towns, and 
at the Home Farms, these privileges have been enjoyed and appreciated. 
They crowd the school rooms. Soldiers and laborers carry about them 
their speller or reader, and are frequently overheard reciting to each other. 

LACK OF SCHOOL HOUSES. 

There is great difficulty in obtaining houses for this purpose, more 
especially at the Home Farms. In the towns churches are opened, but 
not enough to accommodate all. It is worthy of note, that in the Capital 
of Arkansas, there was not a single school-house. Although more teach- 
ers are still needed, charities in the form of school-houses are more urgently 
demanded. By the enforcement of late orders the Freedmeu Department 
will soon be enabled to pay teachers without assistance. The earnings of 
these people in towns are so large, that they can readily pay tuition. The 
feeling of self-dependence awakened, gratifies and elevates them. 

SUPERINTENDENTS AND TEACHERS. 

The Superintendents of Schools provided in orders have not reached 
the interior posts. Their duties have been performed by the Superinten- 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 69 

dents of Freedmen. It is hoped that they will soon arrive. Mr. Allen at 
Helena is an efficient Superintendent, and is doing a good work. 

The lady teachers have been most devoted to then- work, and by rea- 
son of the ease with which discipline is maintained in these schools, and 
the childlike character, as well as attainment, of those people, they have 
been by far the more successftil. Some gentlemen, like the Rev. Mr. Todd 
at Pine Bluff, more interested in the good of these people than jealous for 
the aggrandizement of their sect or association, have been exceedinglj"- 
useful. The presence of such teachers as Mr. Todd, Mrs. Thomas and 
Miss Warren, at the Home Farm of Pine Bluff, and of Mr. and Mrs. Bar- 
stow at that of Little Rock, has had an elevating and restraining influence 
of as great moral value as teaching itself 

The colored people have already a representative among the teach- 
ers in the person of Rev. Andrew Wallace, of Little Rock. 

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL. 

The only Industrial School in the State is at Helena. Here girls and 
women are taught in the cutting and sewing of garments for both sexes, 
and at the same time are paid for what they are able to do. The most art- 
ful housewife would here be surprised with new schemes in domestic 
economy. Old pants are transformed into new aprons. An old army 
overcoat furnishes a lady's cape, a boy's jacket and a skirt for a girl. This 
work will be appreciated by those who know that very few of these wo- 
men are capable of anything but the rudest stitching and the least possible 
tact. Such a School is needed at every post. 

MARRIAGES. 

The forms of marriage certificates and registers have at length been 
received. The necessity for the former had lead to the printing of one, 
different from that of the General Superintendent, for temporary use. For 
want of these, the order in reference to the marriage of those living to- 
gether, is as yet but partially enforced, and the record imperfect. Respect 
for the family relation has been quickened, and is keeping pace with the 
rapid growth of respect for themselves. Husbands and wives, parents 
and children, separated by long distances, are coming together. The diffi- 
rulties and expense of travel do not prevent soldiers' wives at Helena from 
visiting their husbands at Fort Smith. Frequent correspondence, which 
is encouraged and assisted in every way by the Superintendents of Freed- 
men, is kept up between them. 

HOME FARMS. 

At the Home Farms are gathered those out of employment, new 
comers and vagrants, and those rendered helpless through age or misfor- 
tune. These are rationed by the Government, and are supposed by many 
to be a burden and an expense. But notwithstanding all these Homes 
were put in operation this year, with all implements, draught animals and 
seeds to be obtained ; and notwithstanding a nearly total failure of the cot- 



70 



REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 



ton crop, which was the chief reliance, those in this State have earned 
sufficient to pay the Government its outlays, and fair wages to the hands. 

WHITE AND BLACK REFUGEES COMPARED. 

Here, if any where, lies all the expense of Government for the im- 
mense number of negro laborers within our lines ; but the benefits of this 
provision are to be measured, not by the success of these farms alone, but 
by the products of all this labor, which accrues directly or indirectly to 
our advantage, heightened by the amount lost to the enemy. It may not 
be improper to suggest to those who declaim against the Government be- 
ing burdened with negro paupers, that while in this State, the number of 
colored people within our lines is fully equal to that of the whites, twice 
as many of the latter draw rations without making any return whatever. 
Many of these whites are glad to live and work in partnership with the 
more thrifty negroes. 

WOODYARDS. 

The woodyards have been a source of considerable income. In the 
hands of private individuals, the profits of the work of the able-bodied go 
into the hands of speculators, who furnish no schools to the children, nor 
assistance to the helpless. Besides provision being made for these, in the 
hands of the Government, exorbitant rates are prevented and a greater 
abundance supplied. 

PINE BLUFF. 

Of all the Home Farms in the State, that at Pine Bluff is by far the 
best. The people are better housed, better clad and healthier, than at any 
other. This is partly due to an early commencement, and to the number 
of the old quarters on the place ; but chiefly to the energy of Capt. Mal- 
lory, the Post Superintendent, and his sagacity in making choice of Mr. 
J. J. Williams as Camp Master, and private De Tar, 1st Ind. Cav., as Ac- 
ting Surgeon, who have proved the right men for their positions. The 
following report of the sanitary condition of this Home Farm, for six 
months ending Oct. 31st, 1864, will be of interest : 



Month. 



Mean Strength of all 
Ages and Sexes. 



Number of Cases 
Treated. 



Number of 
Deaths. 



May, 


870 


620 


63 


June, 


850 


480 


55 


July, 


760 


402 


33 


August, 


700 


320 


15 


Sept., 


680 


206 


6 


Oct., 


720 


102 


2 


Nov., 


786 


9 


6 



No sick last day of November. 

It must be borne in mind, that a large number of these were not 
brougbt to the camp until dangerously sick. 

Here, as elsewhere, a regular account has been kept between the 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. '*71 

workmeu and the Freedmeu's Department, and a share of their pay has 
been advanced to them in clothing. 

RECRUITS FROM HOME FARM. 

Capt. Mallory has obtained from his camp nearly a thousand recruits 
for the U. S. service. Gen. Clayton, the Post Commander, fully recog- 
nizes the advantages of this supervision, and he has rendered all proper 
assistance to the enforcement of its orders. 

CAUSES OF LARGE NUMBER. 

The large number at this Farm will attract attention. Many are 
continually arriving from the rebel lines. Large numbers were hired un- 
til the crop was gathered, and have been returned to the Superintendent. 
It has also been swelled by an order from the Post Commander, directing 
all in town, without certificate of employment from some white person, to 
])e sent to the Farm. This, however, has, at the request of Superintendent 
Mallory, been but partially enforced. It must not be supposed that these 
were not all employed during the cotton season. At Pine BluflF, as else- 
where, the demand for labor was greater than the supply. Capt. Mallory 
had on the Farm itself 800 acres in cultivation ; and but for the army-worm 
would have realized for the Government as many bales of cotton. 

SUGGESTS A CHANGE OF BASE. 

But good policy suggests, that as few as possible of these people be 
allowed to gather at such distant posts, where the value of the ration is 
trebled by transportation ; and a sudden evacuation would be accompanied 
Avith so much inconvenience and distress. Near the Mississippi their sup- 
ply would be easier, a change made with less trouble, and their labor be of 
greater value. 

LITTLE ROCK. 

The most of the people at the Home Farm were shipped from Fort 
Smith in the utmost destitution, and tlirown upon the Superintendent 
without notice. The houses were necessarily built with haste, and are of 
inferior quality, as well as poorly furnished. Large numbers have been 
sick, and an undue proportion have died. It is to be hoped that some 
suitable person will be found without delay, to act as surgeon at this im- 
portant post. New and better houses are being built upon higher ground, 
and there is reason to hope that health and comfort will be materially im- 
proved. 

DUVALL'S BLUFF. 

A camp for Freedmen has just been arranged at Du Vall's Blufl', by 
Lieut. Davis, the Post Superintendent. His services have been a great re- 
lief to the General Commanding the Post and his subordinates. Out of 
about 600 negroes, only 61 draw rations. These are principally soldiers' 
wives and families. They have good houses, and but few are sick. Num- 



72 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

bers are just now coming in from the surromiding country, who are desti- 
tute and in need of charity. Teachers have been engaged, and schools 
will soon be opened. 

MOUTH OF WHITE RIVER. 

There are about two hundred negroes at the mouth of White River, 
who have been employed in a woodyard, and on a plantation, for a pri- 
vate individual. The projfits of the labor of the strong have been taken 
without care for the sick and helpless. There are no schools here. They 
have, for the most part, good houses ; but live in miserable squalor, and 
are full of complaints of their employer. It is earnestly recommended, 
that the benefits of this supervision be extended to them, and that a wood- 
yard be established, which shall be managed more advantageously for 
them, as well as the Government. 

HELENA. 

At the Home Farm at Helena, the people are in fair houses, and liv- 
ing comfortably. Dr. Palmer, who is acting as surgeon, is an attentive 
and efficient officer. 

The hospital, which he had arranged in town, so much to their ben- 
efit, on the supposed change of the Freedmen into the hands of the Trea- 
sury, was turned over to the Post Surgeon. It is to be hoped that it will 
soon be returned to the use of this Department. 

HOSPITALS AND ORPHAN ASYLUMS. 

Hospitals and Orphan Asylums are needed at every Post, either at, 
the " Home Farm" or in town. Something answering for the former is 
found now at every Home. The best that could be done, under the pre- 
sent difficulties, in obtaining lumber and cots, has been done ; but the hos- 
pitals are neither sufficiently large nor comfortably furnished. It is as 
poor sanitary economy as it is of labor, to scatter the sick among the well. 
This has often been the only recourse. 

There is but one Orphan Asylum in the State. It is located at Hele- 
na. The neatness and order of everything here, in the midst of so many 
children, and such inconveniences, is as surprising as it is beneficent. 
These little ones owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. and Mrs. Clarke, the self- 
denying Managers. 

CHARITIES. 

Under the guardianship of this Supervision, the Freedmen are far 
less dependent upon charity than is supposed by the good people of the 
North. Where their rights are secured, necessaries furnished at reasona- 
ble prices, and they are directed to employment and sources of gain, there 
is no doubt of the ability of the great majority to support themselves, and 
educate their children. The new comers require temporary assistance, 
and those helpless through age or misfortune are necessarily dependent ; 
but these, by organization and prudent management, are already self-sup- 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 73 

porting. If a fair crop had been obtained this year, not only rations and 
labor could have been paid for by the Freedmen Department, but the 
needed hospitals, Orphan asylums, schools and clothing for the indigent, 
could have been furnished without assistance. They are, therefore, in 
temporary need of help ; and most urgently, in the building and furniture 
of Hospitals and School Houses. In clothing, when that purchased by 
the funds of the Freedmen Department shall have reached the different 
parts of the State, as it has already Helena, it will be found that far more 
was called for and provided than was actually needed to make all com- 
fortable. As has been intimated, the greatest charity is protection and 
guardianship ; and if the Government furnishes this, they will soon rise 
beyond the need of any. The more efficient, the more temporarily it will 
be required. The hands, from which the President's Proclamation has re- 
leased them, are still clutching after them. Though the fury of the beast, 
which has had its appetite sharpened by a taste of blood, and been depri- 
ved of its prey, be subdued into cajolery and deceit; it still keeps its eye 
on its victim. A swift and strong arm only can restrain the passions 
of these diverse races and castes, until unity of interests shall be develop- 
ed, and respect for the law secured. The struggle for impartial freedom in 
the South would otherwise be long and violent. Only by this can the 
freed people be protected from the corruption and lawlessness of the worst 
of our armies, as well as the rapacity of speculators. A protection merely 
advisory would be emasculated and powerless. Civil Agents, empowered 
with military authority, would be absurd. In the condition of the South, 
and in the midst of armies, only Military authority in friendly hands 
will avail. 

HOMESTEADS. 

The development of the wealth of the South, and the self-dependence 
of the blacks, would be greatly hastened, if the Government were at pains 
to open to them, and encourage them to take. Homesteads upon the aban- 
doned plantations. Many in the State have this year cultivated for them- 
selves little patches, and even hundreds of acres. Large numbers have sa- 
ved enough to buy thefr mules and plows, and furnish themselves during 
the coming season. The number of these independent planters could be 
quadrupled every year. Contrary, however, to the interests of these peo- 
ple, as well as that of the Government, it would appear that large capital- 
ists have too much the preference. It should be known, that tens of acres 
could be rented, as well as hundreds. As it is, the great plantations of the 
old regime are scarce ever broken. 

The great weakness of the negro is in his social instincts. This has 
been aggravated by being herded together in such numbers on these great 
plantations. They need to be enticed to set themselves apart m families. 
Separated upon these small farms, they will grow in domestic virtues and 
self-reliance. Common schools will then be possible at the South. Thus 
set in their way by encouragement and protection, the ends of all supervis- 
ion, which must be as speedily as possible to do away with the necessity 
for any, will be effectually accomplished. 



74^ REPORT OF SUPERIMTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

A MODEL NEGKO. 

That the negro is not wholly without ability to realize this prospect, 
there is convincing proof in the life of a full black, at Pine Bluff, well 
known as " Uncle Reuben." He was born in Georgia, and fell to a master 
who had but few slaves. He discovered such energy and tact, as well as 
complete devotion to his master's interests, that the latter entrusted every 
thing to his management. The slave raised him from poverty to wealth. 
The master was enabled to buy a large plantation in Arkansas, and stock 
it with negroes. As his circumstances grew easier, his habits became ex- 
travagant. His estate became involved ; and when overwhelmed with in- 
debtedness, he died. The widow, helpless and without resource, called 
Uncle Reuben, told him that she had no one to rely upon but him, 
and placed her all in his hands. He was aroused by this touching conti- 
fidence. He became more ambitious than ever to bring the first Bolls of 
Cotton to town, and to average still more to the acre than the neighboring 
planters. The number of bales grown on the plantation increased every 
year out. The children were sent North to school. His success was so 
remarkable, that the white overseers around became jealous of a negro's 
outstripping them. They compelled the mistress to place a white nomi- 
nally over him. He was not, however, interfered with, until the young- 
masters returned from the North. The fact that a negro slave had educa- 
ted them, and by his own prudence and energy had amassed for them a 
fortune of nearly $150,000. was not as grateful to them as true. His mis- 
tress, however, always treated him as kindly as she dared. On the ap- 
proach of our armies he remained till all had left but himself and family. 
Being assured by our officers that the President's Proclamation was true, 
he also quietly came in. Spirited and proud, he is the most humble of all. 
He refuses to sit in the presence of whites, and touches his hat to you at 
every address. 

LACK OF OPFICEES. 

It is but justice to refer to the inadequate number of officers, which 
Major W. G. Sargent has had to assist him in the supervision of the State. 
For this reason he has been unable to extend its benefits to all points 
as fully as could have been desired, and has been compelled to do the 
greater part of the duties of the Post Superintendent at Little Rock, as 
well as those of his own proper office. 
I have the honor to be 

Your obedient servant, 

L. B. EATON, Lieut. Col. 

Com'g 69th U. S. C. I. 

QUESTIONS TO AGENTS OP BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES, &C. 

The following are questions proposed to agents of benevo- 
lent organizations, teachers, and others laboring for the Fj-eed- 
men within the territory of this Supervision ; with a synopsis of 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 75 

the answers returned by the following gentlemen : — Rev. S. G. 
Wright, agent of the American Missionary Association, at 
Natchez; Rev. Joseph Warren, D. D., Chaplain and Assistant 
in Charge of Freedmen; Rev. James A. Hawley, Chaplain and 
Superintendent of Colored Schools in the District of Vicksburg, 
including Natchez ; Mr. J. C. R. Faris, agent ot the Reformed 
Presbyterian Church, at Natchez ; Rev. Joel Grant, Chaplain ; 
and Rev. L. H. Cobb, Superintendent of Colored Schools at 
Memphis. All these gentlemen have given attention to the 
Freedmen fi'om an educational and moral stand-point. Dr. War- 
ren has had fifteen years experience among the people of 
Northern Hindustan ; Mr. Wright nineteen years among the In- 
dians of our Northwest ; and Mr. Grant has been appointed 
Superintendent of Colored Schools for Arkansas, after having 
had much experience among the Freedmen since early in 1863. 

1. What can you say of the aptitude of the colored people 
to receive instruction ? 

All answer : — They receive instruction very readily. 

Mr. Wright: — Used to think them inferior; but two years' expe- 
rience convinces me that they are equal to wliites with equal advantages. 

Three answer : — They have great aptness for language, music and 
the imitative arts. 

Messrs. Hawley and Warren : — Perhaps they will prove deficient in 
logic and the mathematics. 

2. Compare the mixed and unmixed races in this respect ? 

Messrs. Hawley and Wright: — The mixed are generally superior; 
but have had greater advantages. 

Messrs. Faris and Cobb : — Think the black superior to mixed. 
Messrs. Grant and Warren : — Can see no difference. 

3. Have you been disappointed or otherwise in the results 
of your endeavors to improve and elevate this j)eople ? 

Messrs. Hawley, Warren, Cobb and Faris : — No : the results are bet- 
ter than we had thought slavery had prepared them to exhibit. 

Mr. Grant : — No : I never believed the pro-slavery argument, that the 
negro is incapable of intellectual culture. 

Mr. Wright : — The whole work, so far, is a success. 

4. What has been the general condition of the Freedmen 
as they first come within the Federal lines ? 

All answer : — Poor, ragged generall}^ ; many diseased and dying ; 
some shrewd ones come in better condition ; hopeful, but with intelligence 
much c\epressed. 



76 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

5. Does your observation show their willingness to labor 
cheerfully for compensation ? 

Mr. Hawley : — Generally ; but there are some thriftless. 
Dr. Warren : — Yes ; average as well as whites. 
Four answer : — Yes ; with good treatment and fair hope of remune- 
ration. 

6. What improvement, in this resj^ect, do you see ? 

All answer, in substance : — Success increases industry and enterprise. 
Mr. Grant : — Some have been demoralized by faithless employers. 
Dr. Warren : — Improvement, or the reverse, accords with the treat- 
ment they receive from employers. 

7. What improvement do you observe in their domestic 
relations ? 

Four answer : — Freedmen generally delighted with the privilege of 
forming lawful marriages. 

Dr. Warren : — No people ever grew in civilization so fast. 

Mr. Wright : — Parents strongly desire their children to be educated. 

8. Will the people, if aided at first, and protected, be able, 
soon, to take care of themselves ? 

All answer : — Yes ; if opportunitj'' be afforded. 

9. What patriotism and spirit is displayed by them in en- 
tering the army, and by their conduct in it ? 

All answer : — Generally very patriotic ; though they need incitement 
to enter the army. 

1 0. In the present disturbed state of the country, is mili- 
tary protection essential to their well bemg ? 

Mr. Hawley : — Essential while the war continues. No other will 
answer. 

Messrs". Faris and Wright : — The same. And they must be governed. 

Mr. Grant : — Indispensable. 

Mr. Cobb -.—Absolutely. 

Dr. Warren : — Absolutely. Any other a mockery. 

11. Should the benevolent contributions of the North, in 
their behalf, be increased ? 

Mr. Hawley : — Yes. 

Mr. Cobb : — If rightly directed, the present rates are ample. 

All others : — Yes, at least until peace. 

12. Is the provision through this department, of rations, 
quarters, &c., for the benevolent engaged in your work of suffi- 
cient consequence, in your judgment, to justify this outlay of 
the Government for the mental and moral improvement of this 
people ? 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 77 

Mr. Grant : — Yes ; it has done much good. 

Mr. Cobb : — Its cost bears no proportion to the good done. 

Messrs. Wright and Warren : — The results shew it ; yet a Govern- 
ment officer should judge whether persons enjoying this provision are 
w^orthy of it. 

Mr. Faris : — I think so. 

Mr. Hawley : — Yes ; but the issue should be with discrimination. In- 
considerate persons may overtax the Government. Rivalry of societies 
may have such a tendency. 

QUESTIONS TO COMMANDING OFFICERS. 

A series of questions were addressed to General Officers, 
who have been observant of Freedmen's affairs. They have done 
me the personal favor, and the country the service, of giving 
their private opinions in brief. The following synopsis of answers 
is presented. Their differences in reference to some details only 
give more strength to their points of agreement; on which 
their witness is conclusive. These Officers have had all of us — 
Superintendents, Provost Marshals, Planters, Teachers, Inspec- 
tors and Freedmen, under view, and their opinions close the 
testimony gathered. 

1. Do you consider the emancipation of the slaves a help to 
military operations ? 

Maj. Gen. Dana, Commandmg the Department of the Mississippi : — 
"I consider the emancipation of the slaves as a decided help to ultimate 
military success, and a necessity to and of military operations." 

Brig. Gen. Brayman, Commanding U. S. Forces at Natchez : — "It 
furnishes us with soldiers inured to the climate and to labor, and at the 
same times dries up the enemy's source of supply, and transfers to our 
Service those who would otherwise be used against us." 

Brig. Gen. Andrews, Commanding U. S. Forces at Du Vall's Bluff : 
— Agrees with the above, and adds — "I do not hesitate to say, that what I 
have seen of slavery and freedom, as regards the colored race, since the 
war commenced, has made me an abolitionist — and this exclusive of con- 
sidering them as a help in the war. I am of the opinion that their eman- 
cipation has been a blessing to them." 

"Brig. Gen. Hawkins, Commanding a Division of Colored Troops at 
Vicksburg : — "The emancipation of slaves is a great help to military ope- 
rations, in bringing to our side a male able to bear arms, and anxious to 
fight with us for the security of their freedom. On the other hand, eman- 
cipation is an injury to us, as it prevents supplies being raised in the rebel 
country, on which our army might subsist while making marches or ex- 
peditions. * * * Only the strong and able-bodied should be 
allowed to follow our troops when marching in the rebel country. * 



78 REPORT OP SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

* * The produce raised by the others staying at home would do us 
more service that it would do the rebels." 

[The common opinion is, that the able-bodied would not 
generally follow us unless their families were also allowed to 
do so.] 

Brig. Gen. Chetlain, Commanding Colored Troops of Tennessee, 
through Maj. Paddock, his Inspector General, an observant and accom- 
plished olficer : — "Upon the whole I consider the emancipation of the 
blacks, and their consequent employment in the army, a great help to the 
service and the military operations of the Government." 

2. While ■ the present disturbed condition of our country 
remains, do you believe that the negroes can receive protection 
and justice through any other than military organizations and 
instrumentalities ? 

Maj. Gen. Dana: — "I believe that while Freedmen not in the army 
are allowed to remain at military posts or within the lines of the army, 
they can only receive protection and justice through military instrumen- 
talities, directly or indirectly." 

Brig. Gen. Brayman : — "As the sections where the negroes are found 
are in insurrection and under military law, no other than military agen- 
cies can by employed in behalf of the negro." 

Brig. Gen. Andrews : — "I think Freedmen at present should be un- 
der the military authority." 

Brig, Gen. Hawkins : — "I do not consider a military organization 
necessary for their care. Of course all matters must be under military 
control as long as the war lasts or martial law prevails." 

Brig. Gen. Chetlain : — "If in special localities it be deemed proper to 
collect them together, and extend over them the care and guardianship of 
the public authorities, I should say that, at present, a military system 
would more nearly answer the purpose than would any civil agency. I 
cannot hope for much more than partial protection and justice in favored 
portions of the country until the restoration of civil authority has opened 
the way for a legislative provision of remedies against violence and fraud." 

3. To what extent would you, for the present, seek to with, 
draw the blacks from their pursuits of private industry — agricul- 
tural, mechanical, etc., for the purpose ol their enlistment or 
employment in the army ? 

Maj. Gen. Dana : — "I hold that every Freedman fit for military duty 
should be placed in the ranks." 

Brig. Gen. Brayman : — "The black people should be withdrawn as 
little as possible from their accustomed pursuits — a fair proportion only, 
as in the case of white troops, brought into the army." 

Brig. Gen. Andrews : — "I am decidedly in favor of conscripting col- 
ored men into the service. Then, if they are treated as soldiers should be 



DEPARTMENT OP THE TENNESSEE. 79 

treated, and not made to do more than their share of fatigue duty, they 
will be well contented." 

Brig. Gen. Hawkins :— "All able bodied men who can pass a surgical 
examination, should be received into the army by voluntary enlistment. 
Pressing them into service is a violation of their rights as fi'eemen." 

Brig. Gen. Chetlain :— " I should proceed with the recruitment of 
blacks as rapidly and as extensively as compatible with the number of able- 
bodied men to be had, and their proper organization for w^ar ; and this 
without regardmg the numbers left behind for the mdustrial pursuits na- 
med." 

4. How can the freedmen best serve the country and their 
race ? 

Maj. Gen. Dana: — "For the present by military service." 

Brig. Gen. Brayman :— " By having a country given them ; being al- 
lowed to aid in saving it ; and by being educated to habits of self-reliance, 
industry and virtue. Take the lands of rebel masters, who own them 
without earning them, and give them to loyal slaves, whose labor has 
made them valuable." 

Brig. Gen. Andrews : — Agrees with above. . 

Brig. Gen. Hawkins : — By enlisting in the army. The country is 
benefitted, and they are educated in manliness and self-respect." 

Brig. Gen. Chetlain : — " The freedman at present best serves his coun- 
try by becoming a Union soldier. * * * There should be the estab- 
lishment of the ordinance of Christian Marriage; and stringent punish- 
ment for adultery. The freedman should acquire property, and take a 
family name ; and, as a reward for military service, he should have land 
enough for a homestead." 

5. Please state any facts, or make any suggestions bearing 
upon the military value of this race, or any methods by which it 
may be made more available. 

Maj. Gen. Dana: — "The whole record of military service in this 
war by the freedman shows their adaptibility to, and great value in, the 
military service. The only change I can suggest in the present system of 
ri'cruiting for colored troops is, that every freedman capable of military 
service be declared a soldier, and put in the ranks." 

Brig. Gen. Brayman : — As long as rebels choose to fight for the de- 
struction of the Government, I would train their own slaves to fight 
them. After that I w^ould make industrious citizens of them. I would 
have all, black and white, prepared in peace for soldiers in war, should it 
come again." 

Brig. Gen. Andrews : — " I have had one regiment of colored troops in 
my command for several months, and it is a most excellent regiment." 

Brig. Gen. Hawkins: — Colored men make good infantry; and for 
cavalry I think they would make the best in the world ; and when practi- 
cable they should be organized as cavalry." 

Brig. Gen. Chetlain : — " In my opinion the amount of labor demand- 
ed of colored troops of this command has materially retarded instruction, 



80 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

and to some extent affected the state of discipline. * * * The pro- 
cesses now in employ for the examination of officers, and the dismissal of 
the incompetent, should be kept up until the service is rid of that class. 
* * * These troops should have a separate organization and adminis- 
tration, at least as high as Brigades and Divisions ; and they should be em- 
ployed as cavalry to a greater extent. They ride well, are acquainted with 
and not averse to the care of horses, and are perfectly familiar with the 
country." 

6. Is the care of this people a necessity both to themselves 
and the government ? — and what is the importance of relieving 
department and post commanders of the burden of caring for 
them, or of entrusting this work to some sound and effective or- 
ganization that shall meet this necessity ? 

Maj. Gen. Dana: — "It is of great importance that commanding offi- 
cers be relieved of the care and responsibility of a non-military burden, 
and the government of their support, as early as possible. Whenever these 
people are concentrated in camps for care and support, they should be at 
points where the soil is easy of cultivation, and the position defensible ; 
they should be under military protection, and consequently under milita- 
ry control ; all classes of sharpers and traders should be kept away from 
them. The benevolent of the North should seek means to place them 
through the country where they would be enabled to earn a livelihood for 
themselves, relieve the present wants of labor on farms, and afford fam- 
ilies the now much needed house servants. It appears to me also that 
the Northern factories could advantageously employ great numbers of the 
women and children." 

Brig. Gren. Brayman : — " In transferring an untaught people from the 
care of their owners to our's, we become responsible for all the education, 
care, honest employment and protection we can give them ; considering 
their rebel masters responsible for the sufferings incident to their transition 
from ignorance, helplessness and slavery, to that improved condition of 
which, in a state of freedom, this race may be capable. It being the busi- 
ness of Department and Post Commanders to conduct military operations, 
not to found colonies, nor to engage in utilitarian enterprizes ; the inter- 
ests of the Freedmen should be in charge of other organizations — all, how- 
ever, being subordinated to the great purpose of our present military con- 
dition — that of suppressing the rebellion, and restoring to the Government 
its just supremacy." 

Brig. Gen. Hawkins : — " All people need care, and the observance of 
justice towards them. The chief need is to furnish them with labor, and 
to do as little as possible for them in the way of charity." 

Brig. Gen. Chetlain : — " At all events, I should deem it highly impor- 
tant that Post and Department Commanders be relieved of the burden 
spoken of 

• 

EDUCATIONAL AND MORAL EFFORTS. 

I am indebted to Chaplain Warren for the following presen- 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 81 

tation of educational facts, and considerations touching Schools 
of Letters and Industry, Marriage, and Orphan Asylums : 

SCHOOLS. 

The officers of the Freedmen's Department would have dis- 
charged their trust very imperfectly, had they not felt that the 
mental and moral enlightenment of the people committed to 
their charge was a great object to be secured. Employment and 
Protection were necessities preceding Instruction in order only 
— not in importance. 

EARLY EFFORTS. 

Accordingly, from the very first, efforts were made to se- 
cure the assistance of Army Chaplains, and such other men as 
were likely to feel the necessity of attention to this matter ; and 
the labors of benevolent persons, which were soon offered^ to aid 
in instructing the freed people, were welcomed and encouraged. 
Teachers and Missionaries from the American Missionary Asso- 
' elation, the Western Freedmen's Aid Commission, and the So- 
ciety of Friends were the first in the field. 

After the surrender of Vicksburg and the occupation of 
Natchez, a large number of these voluntary laborers came to aid 
in this work. Beside the Societies already named, the Board of 
Missions of the United Presbyterian Church, the Reformed 
Presbyterians, the United Brethren in Christ, the North Wes- 
tern Freedmen's Aid Commission, and the National Freedmen's 
Relief Association, sent many persons ; and beside these were 
occasional laborers from other bodies. 

RA.TI0XS, ETC., ORDERED. 

The Government ordered that all persons, duly accredited, 
who should come into the field for this purpose, should be tur- 
nished with transportation, quarters, rations and places in which 
to teach, so fir as practicable. The Freedmen's Department was, 
of course, brought immediately into connection with these par- 
ties. It was soon arranged that they should draw their rations 
with the approval of the resident officers of the Department. 
Yet the connection of this Department with such teachers was 
very loose. No orders were given to the Superintendent of 
Freedmen by means of which he could do more than advise in 

regard to the location and distribution of teachers. No author- 

11 . 



82 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

ity was given to superintend their schools, to secure uniformity 
of school-books, or to regulate in any manner the conduct of 
teachers and agents. 

POWER AND MEANS INADEQUATE. 

In these circumstances the officers of the Department did 
what they could to aid the work. They had no funds to provide 
school-houses where these were lacking ; and many of the mis- 
sionaries and teachers were obliged to live and teach in places 
entirely inconvenient and inadequate. Our effi)rts could be only 
partly efficient. Complaints were sometimes uttered, the injus- 
tice of which only they can know, who take properly into con- 
sideration our circumstances and the limitations of our power. 

In this Report it is impossible to give a detailed statement 
of the labor performed by each body of teachers. Only a gen- 
eral notion of what was accomplished can be conveyed. 

In the cities, excepting Memphis, there were, last year, a 
sufficient numbers of teachers. The attendance of scholai-s upon 
the schools was good — almost all, of proper age, being in a school 
the greater part of the time. Some teachers had elementary 
books furnished by their societies ; some had old books, which 
were sent down from the North in great variety — so that a school 
would be furnished with books, and yet not so that even a small 
class could have the same kind ; the Tract Societies and Denom- 
inational Boards gave many books. The schools were almost 
universally without any desks, had no proj^er seats, and no suffi- 
cient rooms. And yet under all these disadvantages, thousands 
learned to read, and began to proceed beyond this. 

In the Freedmen's camps the same state of things was found, 
with quarters and school accommodations worse. Many of the 
teachers submitted to privations and hardships, on account of 
which they are entitled to the gratitude of those whom they 
came to help, and the admiration of all who have any perception 
of the dignity of self-denial in laboring for the poor. In some 
of the camps and farms it was found impossible to maintain 
schools regularly ; and in one or two no accommodations at all 
could be found. 

It was intended that schools and teachers should be main- 
tained on the leased plantations; but experience has proved that 
men who entered upon cotton cultivation, with the intention of 
making a great fortune in a single year, were not to be expected 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 83 

voluntarily to meet our intentions in this respect. With two or 
three exceptions they made no effort to secure instrnction for 
the people whom they employed. On most of the places it was 
entirely impracticable for teachers to reside, because they were 
unsafe for any one. If any system of leasing and cultivatmg 
abandoned plantations be adopted in future, some arrangement 
ought to be made to compel attention to this subject. But Httle 
preparation ol the Freed People, exhibiting respectability of 
character or fitness for the business of life, can be secured on 
plantations managed as most of them have been for the year 
now closing. 

Much work has also been done in the Colored Reoiments. 
by teachers from the Xorth, and by their Chaplains. This De- 
partment has had less to do with this branch of the general work 
than with any other; yet it has been our desire to promote and 
encourage it. We have aided to secure teachers for Regiments, 
and have sought to exercise all ti)e influence that could properly 
be exerted in affairs totally in the power, and at the responsibil- 
ity, of others. 

EXTENT OF INSTEUCTIOX. 

We have no means of saying precisely how many pupils 
have been under instruction within the Department. Some, but 
not nearly all, of the teachers have kept tolerably accurate accounts 
of the number enrolled, and of the average daily attendance. In 
most cases the teachers could not be blamed for neglect in 
this matter. Their rooms were often small and crowded ; or 
they were large, with two or more schools in one room ; the 
population was migratory and changeable; the children were 
irregular in attendance ; the great variety of books made classi- 
fication often impossible. But little as we know about the exact 
number who have been under instruction, and as to how many 
of them have learned to read ; we need not hesitate to say, that 
thousands have been so far taught that they can read the simpler 
school-books, and hundreds are able to read well. Many learned 
to write, and many began the study of arithmetic and geogra- 
phy. The seeds of knowledge have been sown. The extraordi- 
nary eagerness of the people for instruction has been encouraged. 
They are not now human brutes, whom it would be safe to re- 
enslave. Irregular, cramped, partial, rudimentary, as their edu- 
cation has been, it has unfitted them for being chattels. They 



84 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OP FREEDMEN, 

who have not been taught at all — who may never be taught let- 
ters, have at least learned that they are men and women, and 
that the great heart of their country at length allows their right 
to be taught, and to rise np to a plane where they may put forth 
efforts for their own good. 

NECESSITY OF AUTHORITATIVE SUPERVISIOX. 

The preceding statement will show that something more of 
system and supervision was necessary. Useful as the schools 
have been, they might have been more so, had it been possible 
to arrange and locate them in the best manner. Had the numer- 
ous benevolent societies operating in this field been able to com- 
bine their efforts under one Superintendent, a satisfactory 
arrangement might have been made ; but this was found to be 
impracticable. At the same time it was fully proved, by experi- 
men, that nder a proper system the tuition fees that the colored 
people were able and willing to pay, together with the aid of the 
benevolent at the North, would secure education to all the peo- 
ple. As indicative of what judicious persons, not in the Govern- 
ment service, thought on this subject, and pointing out some of 
the evils to be prevented by supervision, the following extracts 
are taken from a report by Rev. I. J. Hoile, a Baptist Missionary, 
employed among the colored people at Memphis since Septem- 
ber, 1863. 

" At the end of six months, three schools were successfully operating 
under my direction, having an average attendance of 570 scholars. Al- 
though all needy applicants were admitted free, not more than twenty 
in the three schools were non-paying." 

" Since the first of March, other schools have been opened in the city, 
by individuals and societies, upon the same principle ; all of which, I be- 
lieve, have been suflB.ciently successful to establish the fact that under a 
proper and uniform system, the educational necessities of the whole co- 
lored population of the city could be provided for without expense to the 
Government. 

" While, however, it is evident that this people are able and willing 
to support these schools for themselves, it is equally evident that they are 
not yet competent to conduct them. Consequently they must be conduc- 
ted by individuals, or societies, interested in their welfare, either under, or 
independent of Government control. Thus far the latter experiment (in- 
dependence of Government control) has been upon trial. I think it has 
had a fair trial ; and having had more to do with the schools, and greater 
responsibility in connection with them, than any other individual, I most 
respectfully submit it, as my full and decided conviction, that it does not 
work well, either for the conscientious laborer, or for the people : the for- 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 85 

mer being unshielded from suspicion's evil eye and the maligner's tongue ; 
while the latter are constantly liable to be imposed upon by unqualified 
teachers, or defrauded by those whose intellectual fitness is more than 
counterbalanced by the dishonest or mercenary motives which govern their 
action. Among this people themselves, also, there are a few who have a 
little knowledge, against whose greed of gain and love of rule they need 
to be protected. 

" It follows, therefore, that the educational interests of this long op- 
pressed people should be as much under the vigilant guardianship of the 
Government as any others ; and, consequently, that schools and teachers 
should not merely be protected by, but subjected to, such otficial author- 
ity and direction as would render more efficient the labors of the one 
class, and the more certainly ensure the good of the other. The necessity 
of placing these schools under official supervision became apparent to me 
almost as soon as I entered upon the work of my mission ; and, as 1 have 
pursued that work, evidence has so accumulated, that I have frequently 
consulted with others on the subject, and have found that then- observa- 
tions and conclusions almost invariably agreed with my own. * * 
* After mature deliberation I have come to the conclusion, that the in- 
terests of these schools should be committed to the Department over 
which 3^ou have the superintendence. To the Freedmen's Department 
they seem more properly to belong. I take the liberty, therefore, very 
respectfully to suggest the propriety of your presenting this matter for 
the consideration of Adjutant General Thomas. 

"It is easy, I think, to hit upon a plan, by which the existing schools 
may be brought under one general system ; new ones properly located '■> 
and all concerned held to such accountability to the Department as would 
prevent or cure abuses, without any undue restraint upon the labors of 
individuals or societies. The objects to be aimed at are — 

"1st. The securing of better order, and more thorough co-operation, 
by systematizing the whole work. 

"2d. The employment of none but properly qualified and accredited 
teachers. 

"od. The fixing of such a degree of responsibility upon each and all 
employed as shall protect the people from imposition and abuse." 

Before the report, from which the above extracts are ta- 
ken, was received, it had become fully evident that such super- 
vision was necessary'; and Maj. Gen. Washburne, then comman- 
ding at Memjihis, had taken some steps to inaugurate it within 
liis command. At this juncture the following order of the Secre- 
tary of War was issued by Adj. General Thomas ; — 

Cincinnati, Ohio, Sept. 26, 1864. 
Orders No. 26. [Exti^act.] 

II. To prevent confusion and embarrassment, the General Superinten- 
dent of Freedmen will designate officers, subject to his orders, as Superin- 
tendents of Colored Schools, through whom he will arrange the location 
of all schools, teachers, the occupation of houses, and other details per- 



86 REPORT OP SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

taining to the edueation of Freedmen. All officers commanding, and 
others, will render the necessary aid. 

By Order of the Secretary of War: 

L. THOMAS, 

Adjutant General. 

In carrying out this order, Rev. L. H. Cobb has been ap- 
pointed Superintendent of Colored Schools in the District of 
Memphis ; Rev. James A. Hawley, Chaplain 63d U. S. Colored 
Infantry, in the District of Vicksburg, assisted by Rev. Mr. Buck- 
ley, Chaplain 47th Colored In/antry, at Vicksburg, and Mr. C. 
S. Crossman at Natchez ; Rev. Joel Grant, Chaplain 1 2th Il- 
linois Infantry, in the District of Arkansas ; Mr. W. F. Allen, at 
Helena ; and Mr. J. L. Roberts, at Columbus, Ky. 

Instructions have been framed for the guidance of Superin- 
tendents. They provide for the location and opening of schools 
sufficient for the people ; for the payment of tuition fees fr@m 
25 cents to $1,25 a month for each scholar, according to the abil- 
ity of the parents ; for admission entirely free to all who cannot 
pay, and clothing to be furnished, by the aid of the Industrial 
Schools, to those who need it ; for the occupation of houses and 
school-rooms; for necessary apparatus and incidentals; for the 
government of teachers in connection with the societies that send 
them ; for the prevention of all fraud and extortion ; and for the 
payment, /)»*o rata^ of all the money remaining, after meeting in- 
cidental expenses, to the teachers, — thus aiding the benevolent 
societies to support their agents. The hope and probability is, 
that after a little time, when the system becomes fully establish- 
ed, and the heavy preliminary expenditure has been met, the in- 
come will be sufficient to pay all the wages of the teachers. 

EARLY REPORTS. PROSPECTS. 

Reports concerning the beginning of the application of this 
system have come in from some of the superintendents. The 
other officers of the Department watch and assist it. So far as 
known, the agents and superintendents of the benevolent soci- 
eties approve of the scheme, and will work with us cordially. 
There is no reason to doubt that great advantages to the colored 
people will result from it. Education — plain, simple, practical 
and christian, is the great want of this people ; that education it 
is the undoubted duty of the country to aftbrd, and she cannot 
afford not to give it. It is believed that the efforts and scheme 



DEPARTMENT OP THE TENNESSEE. «7 

detailed above will secure this end to the highest degree allowed 
by present circumstances. 

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS. 

To meet the urgent want of dependent fusjitives from sla- 
very, and of the sick and infirm, the Secretary of War issued or- 
ders that cast-off soldiers' clothing should be given for their use 
by the Medical Department, as it accumulated at hospitals. 
Large quantities of second-hand clothing were also collected at 
the North, and sent down in charge of the various missions en- 
gaged in educational and other benevolent efforts. New goods, to 
be made up into garments, more especially for women and children, 
have been forwarded by the same parties ; and donations from 
the funds of the Freedmen's Department have added to this sup- 
ply- 

To adapt these goods to economical use a great deal of work 

has been found necessary. For the purpose of performing this 
work ; and to teach thf colored women to labor effectively for 
their families; industri:il schools have been set up. The teach- 
ers and agents of benevolent societies have done much in this 
direction. The Department officers encourage these efforts. 
Latterly Lt. R. D. Bird has been placed in charge of three such 
schools at Memphis ; and, as far as it may be necessary or useful 
to do so, the supervision of such schools will be assumed by us. 
Where any benevolent work carries on this work efficiently, fur- 
ther interference than mere general oversight will not be neces- 
sary. 

ORPHAX ASYLUMS. 

The mortality attendant upon the flight of thousands from 
slavery ; the hardships and exposure to which the colored people 
were at one time subject ; and the death of soldiers in the army ; 
have caused many orphans to be left among this people in camps 
for the dependent and in the cities. It has long been evident 
that some special provision for their care was necessary. The 
subject has been very much debated among the officers of the 
Freedmen's Department ; and a full plan of an institution was 
prepared, and, with the approbation of the General Superinten- 
dent, presented to several benevolent societies, by Chaplain War- 
ren. It was found, however, that no single society thought it- 
self able to undertake the support of a large institution ; and a 



88 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

combination of different bodies for this purpose proved equally 
impracticable. But it is still true, that a large and central insti- 
tution is desirable, to gather all needy colored orphans, and take 
the place of the several insufficient asylums mentioned below. 
We do not undei:value the efforts that have been made. They will 
do good, as far as they go ; but they are not commensurate with 
the necessities of the Department. 

The first attempt to provide for orphans, in an asylum, must 
be credited to "Aunt Maria," a colored woman, on President's 
Island near Memphis. She collected a considerable number of 
orphans, in connection with the Freedmen's Camp, and still has 
the care of them, aided by the supervision of Miss Mitchell, one 
of the earliest to hasten to the aid or the destitute people flying 
from slavery. 

The next effort was made at Helena — commenced by Major 
Sargent, aided by Gen. N. B. Buford and his excellent lady. 
Elkanah Beard procured teachers for this institution from the So- 
ciety of Friends. This place will accommodate about sixty or- 
phans ; and at present is nearly fall, and in good condition. 

Another institution has been commenced at Memphis, by 
Mrs. Canfield. This lady's husband, Lt. Col. Canfield, was kill- 
ed at Shiloh ; and since that loss she has devoted herself to works 
of benevolence. Her house will accommodate about fifty chil- 
dren. 

Another asylum has been opened at Natchez, under the pa- 
tronage of the Northwestern Freedmen's Aid Commission. No 
definite report of its condition has reached this office. 

An undertaking of the same kind is proposed at Vicksburg, 
of which it is now too soon to say any thing. 

MARRIAGE. 

Among the things to be done, to fit the freed people for a 
life of happiness and usefulness, it was obvious that the inculcation 
of right principles and practices in regard to the social relations 
ought to find a place. The General Superintendent, before the 
period embraced in this report, had directed the attention of al 1 
his Assistants to this subject. The Chaplains assisting him had 
acted without special instructions, and a great number of couples 
were married, at the different camps, by Rev. Messrs. Grant, 
Alexander and Fisk. For the purpose of showing what was at- 
tempted, and the necessity for it, the following extracts are here 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 89 

inserted from a Report, made by Chaplain Warren, dated May 
18th, 1864:— 

STATE UNDER THE OLD SYSTEM. 

"All are aware of the fact, that there was no such thing as lawful 
matrimony among the slaves under the former system ; but many do not 
know the sad consequences of this fact. An impression has prevailed ex- 
tensively, that proper marriages were generally encouraged by slave own- 
ers among their people ; and that great regard was paid to these connec- 
tions in buying and selling servants. That these statements are not true 
we have abundant reason to assert. The following are aaswers to an in- 
terrogatory sent to the Post Superintendents in 1863. The question is — 
"What of their (the colored people's) marital notions and practices ?" 
One answers — 'All wrong.' Another — 'Their ideas of the marriage rela- 
tions and obligations are very low.' A third — 'Most of them have no idea 
of the sacredness of the marriage tie, declaring that marriage, as it exists 
among the whites, has been impossible for them.' Another says — 'They 
know what marriage is among the whites, but have yielded to the sad ne- 
nessity of their case.' Still another Superintendent says — 'They have had 
no opportunity for correct notions and practices.' Another — 'Loose — and 
from example.' 

"To all this we, who have been still more conversant with these peo- 
ple, may add any amount of testimony. We have found women who, 
bear indelible marks of the lash, inflicted to force them into unions hate- 
ful to them ; or to break them oft from attachments in which they wished 
to live virtuously, and make them 'take up with' others ; or to force them 
to submit to the lust of master or overseer. Yet the freed people are in 
no way unfit to sustain the marriage relation properly. One of the Super- 
intendents referred to above says — 'In other cases the marriage relation 
exists in all its sacredness without legal sanction.' And another remarks 
— 'Free, and married, they will maintain the marriage relation as sacredly 
as any other race.' In the more permanent camps the Superintendents 
unitedly declare, that the introduction of the rite of christian marriage 
and requiring its strict observance, exerted a most wholesome influence 
upon the order of the camps and the conduct of the people." 

NEW ARRANGEMENTS. 

But it was found that system was necessary. In the entire 
absence of civil law, recourse to military authority was impera- 
tive. Accordingly, the General Superintendent represented this 
matter to Gen. Thomas, who issued the following order, as the 
initial step of a general scheme: — Special Orders, No. 15 — 
Extract — dated Natchez, Miss., March 28, 1864 — 

"III. Any ordained Minister of the Gospel, accredited by the Gene- 



90 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

ral Superintendent of Freedmen, is hereby authorized to solemnize the 
rite of marriage among Freedmen. 

By order of the Secretary of War : 

L. THOMAS, Adjutant General." 

In pursuance of the great object thus suggested, the Gen" 
eral Superintendent caused to be prepared — 1st. A form o* 
Marriage certificate, which refers to the above order as the secu" 
lar authority for such marriages. 2nd. A return to be made to 
the Post Superintendents; and 3rd, a License to Ministers of the 
Gospel, to marry according to the above order, accompanied with 
appropriate instructions. 

These instructions were distributed to Chaplains and Mis 
sionaries early in April, 1 864. There being two Chaplains con- 
nected with the chief ofiice of the Department, then at Vicks- 
burg, more attention was paid to this interest there than at other 
posts ; and the data, on which the following remarks are founded^ 
are chiefly derived from that post. It must not be understood 
however, that no progress has been made at other posts. Books 
for the registration of marriages were sent early to all the chief 
post in the Department ; and such attention has been given to 
this subject as circumstances allowed. 

RETUKNS AND REGISTERS. 

The Return, which a minister is required to make of each 
marriage solemnized hy him, contains the ages of the parties ; 
the admixture of blood in themselves and in each of their pa- 
rents ; the length of time each may have lived with another pei*- 
son as husband or wife, with the causes of their separation ; and 
the number of children each may have had by former connection, 
or which they together may already have had. Thus it will be 
seen that the returns will afford most interesting statistics. Re- 
ference will be made to these hereafter. 

The Registers, made up fi'om these Returns, also afford the 
means of identifying parties, as far as is possible. This is most 
important, especially in view of questions of inheritance that may 
hereafter arise, and of claims on the Government by the families 
of deceased colored soldiers. The means of proving a true re- 
lationship, and of checking fraud, may here be found. The books, 
substantially made up for this purpose, have been carefully kept, 
and will be easily preserved. 

At first far the greater L number of those married were 
couples seeking to legaHze unions already formed, some of which 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 91 

had existed a long time ; and sometimes most touching is the 
deep satisfaction with with they hear the announcement — " There- 
fore, in accordance with the ordinance of God, and by the au- 
thority of the United States, I pronounce you husband and wife : 
and whom God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." 
Latterly a greater proportion are new contracts. 

The statistics to be gathered from the Marriage Registers, 
from the best answers that can be found to most of the pleas of- 
fered in justification of slavery ; the substance of which is, that 
entire subjection to the will of the master, with protection and 
support, is the best situation in which to secure the happiness 
and develope the virtues of the colored people. But there are 
two aspects of slavery, which these statistics reveal, and which 
exhibit its character so far in indelible tints. The first of these 
is, its inhumanity in rupturing the social relations. 

VIOLENT RUPTURES OP SOCIAL RELATIONS. 

If we are to believe the advocates of the system, the slaves 
generally passed their time in extreme contentment and happi- 
ness, enjoying a high degree of domestic felicity. They confess 
that occasionally a forcible separation of husband and wife may 
have occurred ; but they represent such things as extremely rare, 
and would have us believe that white people guilty of such vio- 
lence were deemed infamous. But our Registers tell a different 
tale. To take that of Vicksburg only, as an example — we find 
returns of fifteen hundred marriages in that District up to ISTov* 
30, 1864. Of these three thousand persons, five hundred and 
sixty-seven had been forcibly and hopelessly separated from hus- 
bands and wives by the direct operation of the system of slavery : 
some for the personal convenience of master or overseer ; some 
because the master would have all his people mated on his own 
plantation, or not at all: but most of them by sale or removal. 
Thus more than one-sixth of the people whom we have recorded 
as married have suffered the disruption of domestic ties. And 
this average may fairly be raised higher, if we count the actual 
number of such separations, instead of merely the number of 
persons so separated — many having suffered this wrong more 
than once. To this amount of outrage is to be added the violent 
separation of children and parents, which occurs still more fre- 
quently. Parties have always been asked if they had children 
during these former connections ; and they have often answered 



92 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

that they had left behind, on being sold away, one, two, six, a 
dozen, and even twenty ; and it has oftener appeared that chil- 
dren have been sold, and parents left behind. Many of these se- 
parations were of mere infants from their mothers. 

Another fact revealed by these inquiries, is the astounding 
mortality among colored children in slavery. We have often 
been told of the birth and death of many — the deaths frequent- 
ly amounting to five-sixths of those born. Were it not that it is 
a race of marvellous health and fecundity, slavery would soon 
have abolished itself, without importation, in the South-West, 
by destroying the people. 

We ought also to remember the continual fear of such dis- 
ruption of family ties, in which all slaves constantly lived, especi- 
ally in the Northern slave States. But many have said, " They 
do not feel these things as we would." This is utterly false. 
They are'^a race of peculiarly keen feelings and domestic tenden- 
cies ; and they have had fewer means of withdrawing their minds 
from their griefs than we have. But they rarely got pity in 
their sorrows : if they were downcast, they were often whipped 
for " sulking." 

To this is still to be added, that the insecurity of their do" 
mestic relations necessarily produced fickleness among them" 
selves. It seemed bad policy to love, when the most sacred feel- 
ings might any day be miserably outraged, and the dearest con- 
nections ruthlessly sundered. So temporary connections, un- 
sanctified by any feeling of the heart, came into vogue, A rov- 
ing fancy was indulged. Corruption, proceeding to incest, pre- 
vailed. A planter told one of my assistants, that he believed 
that every man among the three hundred people on his estate 
had, at some time or other, had every woman on it. There is 
evidence to prove conclusively, that on many plantations black 
men were countenanced and encouraged in practices abhored 
even by heathen morality — to improve the breed of human cat- 
tle. We are shamed, as to our country and our common human- 
ity, by having such things to say and hear. But it is time that 
the whole truth, that " slavery is the sum of all villainies," 
should stand out before a disgusted world. 

A SPECIMEN. 

As illustrative of this subject, it may be stated, that Major 
Sargent, in an Appendix to a Report on liis District in Arkansas, 



DEPAKTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 93 

gives extracts from the order book of a Mr, Cockrell, a planter 
in that State, now a Confederate " Commissioner for the Seques- 
tration of the Estates of AUen Enemies." The book contains in- 
structions to his Overseer, and was found in his house, which he 
had abandoned on the approach of our forces. One extract is 
as follows : — " The plantation is to produce 400 bales of cotton, 
40,000 lbs. of pork, 50 stacks oats, 75 stacks fodder, 8 stacks 
millet. Ten Negro Children^ He then arranges for producing 
the children by ordering the pairing of " Henry and Susan, Cam. 
bridge and Matilda, Sandy and Yellow Kitty," &c. 

A REVELATION. 

Still further to illustrate the miserable corruption to which 
slavery exposed its victims, (and, for that matter, the oppressors 
too,) — there was a colored woman at Davis' Bend, when our for- 
ces took possession of that place, — afterward sent to Cincinnati — 
who can be proved, by the testimony of hundreds, to have been 
the kept mistress of Jeff. Davis ; and she is universally reputed 
to be the daughter of Joe Davis, the rebel insurgent leader's bro- 
ther. We know, also, of at least six persons, the offspring of 
white Southern women by colored men. One of these children 
of white women, after narrowly escaping death by drowning at 
the hands of his maternal uncles, is now a Presiding Elder in 
tlie Methodist Church. Another was once sold into slavery by 
his mother, for a *' flitch of bacon." 

MISCEGENATION — BY WHOM. 

The second aspect of slavery, illustrated by these statistics, 
is its immorality. It may not be thought necessary to add any- 
thing to the statements immediately preceding this paragraph ; 
but the following matter is important. Of these same three 
thousand people, whose marriages are recorded at Vicksburg, 
one thousand and fifty have been found to have white blood in 
their composition. There may have been more ; for many are 
put down as black when there were suspicions of white admix- 
ture, which they denied ; — for it is to be noticed, that they are 
already beginning to be ashamed of mixture, which was formerly 
a matter of pride. Here were more than one-third mixed — 
many almost white, a few entirely so. 

We have been told that slavery is a civilizing institution^ 
highly moral in its effect among the slaves, and productive of the 



94 REPORT OP SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

extremest type of christian civilization among the whites. It has also 
been a favorite sneer, directed at all advocates of emancipation, that 
abolition was amalgamation. The preceding paragraph is a suf- 
ficient answer to all these things. Moreover, in the course of 
their official action during the past year, my assistants have be- 
come cognizant of four marriages of southern white men to col- 
ored women. One of them was formerly a negro trader. His 
quadroon slave and mistress would not live with him without 
marriage, because, as she said, she had now become free, and it 
was no longer right to submit to that, to which she had been 
helplessly subjected in slavery. A Chaplain, altogether unwil- 
ling to assist at mixed marriages, was induced to perform the 
ceremony in this instance, by the man's saying that he had "mar- 
ried her in the sight of God five years ago !" 

MOKAL PROGRESS. 

It was to teach and reform a people inured to these things, 
that the institution of lawful maariage was directed. And it has 
wrought grand and beneficent effects. No people, within the 
whole compass of history, have ever exhibited more rapid pro- 
gress of a civilizing idea. It is not pretended that all the mar- 
riages that have taken place were well advised, or will be happy, 
or faithfully observed. When marriages among whites shall all 
prove so, without exception, it will be time to look for snch a 
happy state of things among the blacks. But progress — great 
and enceuraging — has been made ; and this is all that could have 
been expected. 

THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT. 

Surgeon D. O. McCord, who had had much experience 
among the freed people, aud whose good service I here gratefully 
acknowledge, was announced, in Orders 114 of the Secretary of 
War, issued by Adjutant General Thomas, as Medical Director 
of Freedmen for the Department of the Tennessee and State of 
Arkansas, Dec. 1, 1863. Medical attendance and supplies for 
the people were under his control; and, according to orders, no 
one could practice among them without his approval. Accord- 
ing to his Report, made June 28th, 1864, he found, on entering 
upon his duties, only 

"Eight surgeons employed with these people. Most of tbem were 
incompetent, and relieved from duty for that reason. Now we have thirty- 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 95 

two, all educated men, who take an interest in the work. Then we had 
but one hospital worthy of the name ; now we have one in every camp, 
or within reach of it. Wherever the Government has colored laborers, 
we send surgeons, hospital and medical stores." 

This favorable advance, in the medical affairs of the freed 
people, was hardly secured before the Surgeon General found the 
medical appropriations of Congress falling short of the necessi- 
ties of the army in its active operations ; and the Secretary of 
War accordingly ordered — "No issue will be made, or bills paid, 
by the Medical Department, on account of Freedmen not in the 
United States service." 

Soon after, under the clause of a law enacted in July, Reg- 
ulations were provided for the transfer of Freedmen's affairs to 
the Treasury Department. 

A brief statement from me to the Assistant Secretary of the 
Treasury, Hon. Mr. Harrington, in the absence of Hon. Secretary 
Fessenden, of the facts which parties moving in the matter seem- 
ed to ignore, — that the dependent, whom we had hoped would 
be provided for by the Plantation Agents, had been thrown upon 
military support ; and that there were no other instrumentalities 
for their care ; — cut off, they must perish ; that my Assistants 
had been compelled, as stated before, to extend Government aid 
to numerous Freedmen endeavoring to help themselves; and 
consequently had open contracts, which could not be settled till 
the close of the season ; Mr. Harrington, taking a common-sense 
view of the confusion and harm sure to occur from a transfer so 
unprovided for, immediately suspended the proposed Regulations 
of the Treasury ; and, after the return of the Hon. Secretary, 
Mr. Fessenden, and consultation with him, addressed to me the 
following note : — 

"Treasury Department, August 23, 1864. 

"Sir: — The suspension of the Regulations, whereby this Department 
contemplated taking immediate control of the Freedmen, has been ap- 
proved by the Secretary. 

"In directing such suspension, it was the expectation and deshe of 
the Department, that the system and arrangements heretofore inaugurated, 
and now being prosecuted under you, should be continued without inter- 
ruption until the crops now in are gathered, and the present season closed ; 
and until this Department is prepared in all respects to assume such con- 
trol under the law. 

"Respectfully, 

GEO. HARRINGTON, 

Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. 
"CoL. John Eaton, Jr., 
Washington." 



96 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN, 

The above statements close out the general reports from my 
officers. Their accounts with the several funds will be settled as 
soon as the crops are gathered and sold. 

The mass of facts clearly illustrates the great principles to 
which the two distinctive elements of government are assigned 
— the Treasury, to the collection of revenues and the disbursement 
of funds ; the War Office, to the prosecution of military opera- 
tions, and the execution of the functions of government in the en- 
lorcement of justice, whilst civil authority is in abeyance. These 
facts show that any confounding of the functions of the Depart- 
ments must create confusion, and fail of good. In respect to the 
Freedmen as a whole, it is plain that the Treasury should con- 
trol the funds, as for all other operations ; and the War Depart- 
ment, having the only efficient instrumentalities, provide for the 
dependent, and execute justice among and toward the Freedmen, 
as to all others in the regions under army sway. 

Had the War Office cut off Commissary and Quartermaster 
supplies, as it was compelled to sto}) medicines, the suffering and 
injury would have been indescribable and irremediable. As it 
was, my officers having hospitals and moderate supplies in their 
control, were able, aided by the purchase of medicines by the 
Freedmen's fund, to limit the extent of the disaster. 

Surgeon McCord has since, in connection with the Surgeon 
General, the Adjutant General, and the Secretary of the Trea- 
sury, endeavored to complete arrangements for the future. 

CONCLUSION, 

The inferences from these facts are obvious. No one can 
apprehend them, or penetrate their philosophy, without seeing, 
in the policy of the Government, towards the Freedmen, the easy 
settlement of some of the most difficult questions of reconstruc- 
tion. 

The results of reconstruction depend entirely upon the ma- 
terial used. We can erect a granite structure neither on a foun- 
dation of hay and stubble, nor out of clay and mortar. Neither 
debates nor papers, but what is made of these masses during 
the war, whether actually voters or not, must determine the 
status of these regions. 

With an aim to present exclusively these facts, essential to de- 
termine future action, much of the most touching and thrilling in the 
experience of my officers has been omitted. Intrusive fancy and 

MB 10 3. 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. 97 

ambition have borne their mushroom fruits. Benevolence has 
erected its monuments, as in the sacrifice of the Vannatta and 
Buchanan families, and others. Their blood is on the hands of 
their murderers. Major Young and Captain Rogers fell sacrifi- 
ces to the exposure to malarial influences and sleepless activity 
required of my officers in their important duty. Planting too 
has offered its victims, the noble Cathcart and Winchell. Medi- 
cal care of the sable sick has cost the murder of the esteemed 
Fahnestock, and the captivity — perhaps death — of others. Not 
a few negroes have sealed their eflorts for liberty with their blood. 
The falsely called chivalry have illustrated their boasts of superi- 
ority by the most diabolical atrocities of murder, mutilation and 
child-stealing. 

The saving of capital, of life, and of civilization looks only in 
one direction — to the su})]-emacy of law, affirmed as it can be, 
here and now, only by military power for white and black, hold- 
ing all to a stern accountability. 

Our country has been put to the test of the sacrifice of trea- 
sure, and comfort, and life — most severe, and yet not exhaustive 
— rather consistent with its mighty growth. It has also afforded 
the sublimest illustrations of self-sacrifice on the field of carnage. 
But the day of adjustments hastens, with tests more trying to our 
virtues. 

These strains have been upon my officers, and upon all, who, 
like them, have taken the advance in this settlement of our es- 
sential difficulties. Those who have been faithful are commended, 
for their vindication and reward, to future generations. Their 
deeds are their best records, and will live after them. Their 
names, more familiar to the future than the present, are already 
made familiar among this people, and in this Rejiort. 

It will be seen that I am especially indebted to Col. Samuel 
Thomas, Lieut. Cols. Mitchell and Eaton, Maj. Sargent, 
Capts. Walker and Mallory, and Chaplains Warren, Fisk 
and Hawley. My indebtedness to Commanding Officers in the 
valley, who have co-operated with me, is already apparent. Since 
Gen. Grant, no one has more faithfully studied the whole sub- 
ject than Maj. Gen. Daxa, Commanding the Department of the 
Mississippi. Lieur. S. N, Clark has been specially useful in 

compiling this Report. 

13 



98 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FREEDMEN. 

Acknowledging my special and repeated obligations to your- 
self, General, in all these affairs, 

I have the honor to be 

Your most obedient servant, 

JOHN EATON, Jr., Colonel, 

General Superintendent of Freedmen, 
Department of the Tennessee and State of Arkansas. 



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